Mass Effect 3: Aftermath
by HowltheGreat
Summary: The sole survivor of a mission to an abandoned Cerberus base on Mars finds a living experiment that leads him in unlocking the secrets to Shepard's past, the true nature of the Reapers, and how to survive a bleak future in a torn galaxy. Contains original characters and a M!Shepard with romantic ties to Kaidan Alenko. (1/9/13) Early chapters have been revised and edited. WIP
1. Dry Air of the Red Planet

It was no surprise that breathing was hard to do, considering it was Mars. Oxygen flow was only at fifty-seven percent thanks to a valve on the back of this helmet that took damage during the collapse of a rusted floor that dropped to the basement of the facility. Still, to be alive and barely breathing was better than those who had already died from suffocation, exposure, laser fire and/or being swept away in the most random of dust storms. Whatever the Alliance thought they had found out here on this barren planet better be worth the lives of an entire squad, with the exception of one. Then again, Kyo had always been lucky.

The crimson-red paint job on his repurposed N7 armor was already fading. It had been through waves of Husks, Cannibals, Cerberus troops, and even stared down a Reaper or two. Even without the threat of the end of the galaxy anymore, it didn't mean that the sun had come out with rainbows and tweeting birds. Earth had sustained heavy losses and with the slow repair of the Mass Relays, everyone was in need of supplies. A reported secret Cerberus base on Mars was said to have some tech in it that may not have been massively damaged by the Crucible's giant EMP blast. A signal that originated from the base was strong enough to make it to space, which shook up the curiosity of several top ranking military officials. Whatever or whomever created that distress beacon was still somewhere in this underground facility.

_Oxygen levels at fifty percent._ The message had appeared in text from inside of the helmet that splashed across the glass visor.

Well, shit.

The flashlight at the end of the N7 Paladin heavy pistol exposed that there was nothing down here but corpses; human remains in both lab coats and medical gowns. Some were still strapped to their tables, who had most likely died when the building lost power and had effectively cut off their life support. Others may have died from whatever experiments they were a part of, willingly or not. The entanglement of tubes from various bodies connected to jars of fluid, some of which were broken and puddled in gelatinous designs on the tiled floor. The rank smell of embalming fluid and other chemicals even managed to pierce through the helmet's vents, making Kyo's face tighten up just before his omni-tool lit up on his wrist. The signal was stronger now, indicating that he was close, but that was just another way of saying that it was getting more dangerous. With a quick motion, he recocked the gun which allowed for a hot thermal clip to ping loudly off the floor.

The omni-tool rolled down the numbers in feet as Kyo walked blindly towards his target. Twenty feet, fifteen, ten, five - zero. There, in front of the soldier, was a large holding vat made of glass that was filled with a light-blue liquid where small bubbles were still being circulated. Despite the power being long gone from this place, this container still had dimly-lit lights and a steady stream of airflow. The glass was fogged over, which prompted Kyo to wipe away the film out of curiosity. There he saw it; a light brown skinned face with closed eyelids that was topped off with a large mass of swirling white hair. After wiping more of the condensation away, he then managed to see the rest of the floating body. It was thin, male, and in its late-teens to early twenties from the looks of it. It was a bit too blurry from behind the glass to make out any major details, but the unnatural white hair was unsettling enough. Was this even a human being?

With a hand on the glass, the arm's omni-tool began to static uncontrollably. Kyo put the arm to his helmet as he clumsily tapped away at the screen as lines of code started to scroll on their own. There was another noise that caused Kyo to jump with attention, aiming the gun in the same direction directly behind where he was standing. Carefully, he moved forward until he found that it was just a console activating itself. '_A VI maybe?' _he thought to himself as he tried to get to some sort of access menu. Perhaps there was an automatic trigger rigged in case anyone entered this room during an emergency? Holding his arm out, the omni-tool seemed to work itself and completed a hack that the solider couldn't muster on his best day. Soon, there was the sound of steam being released from the vat as the hack had apparently finished. The surrounding glass slid up as the pressurized locks released with a flood of chemicals draining out into pre-cut vents that were imbedded on the floor. "Hey wait!" Kyo shouted as he ran to catch the nude and slippery body that fell from its holding cell.

He actually managed to run over to catch it before they both hit the floor. Wonderful, now he was stuck with a naked, wet and unconscious science project that was just going to die anyway in a building without any…oxygen?

_Systems back online. _

The announcement came from overhead speakers as the lights flickered before turning back on completely while the sounds of random doors began to open and close themselves around him. It wasn't until there was fog on Kyo's visor did he even notice that the air had been cut back on as well. Taking off the helmet, the young fighter took a deep breath of slightly stale, but welcomed recycled oxygen. His short cut, but messy, black hair stuck to his forehead from the heat as his dark eyes looked down at what he just caught.

'_Was this…the signal?'_ he thought to himself again as he remembered that an entire team had been sacrificed for this lifeless body. How could a single person be worth all of those lives, even his own? With time to spare now, Kyo gave the body in his lap a good once over and noticed that there were several scars with an extreme amount of exposed implants that he couldn't recognize. Not that he was an expert in such things, but these definitely weren't L2's or L3's. Perhaps they were L4's or maybe even Reaper tech was his best guess. Cerberus was in bed with the likes of the evil machines who tried to exterminate all life, weren't they? These implants trailed down the male's back, across the ribs, down the arms, and were even on the inside of his palms. While running a few gloved fingers through the white hair, Kyo also felt metal attachments to both the skull and down the back of the neck as well. The fingers then forced the closed eyelids open with the expectation to see false metal eyeballs, but they were instead a highly organic in a pleasant shade of light-green.

Still, despite all of the touching and probing, the body didn't respond at all, but at least it seemed to be breathing on its own. After letting out a sigh, Kyo hoisted the young man onto his shoulder so that he could start walking through the blood-stained building in order to look for some extra armor, even if it meant cutting a body out of it first. This was a priority since exposing a human body to barren Mars would kill them almost instantly. It didn't care how many implants they had installed. "Suit…suit…aha. Well, we just met and I've already seen you naked. Guess it's not a big deal if I dress you either. I'm Kyo, by the way, former popstar, Alliance workforce of…carrying around naked guys. What's your name?" Of course, Kyo was just talking to himself considering. It was his way of staying sane. "Right, you don't have a name. Well, you have freaky white hair, so I'll call you Shiro. Any complaints?" If silence was the answer that Kyo was looking for, he received it in spades. "Didn't think so. Ah, here we go. This has Cerberus written all over it, but beggars can't be picky." It took a few minutes to pull the suit on _Shiro_, but Kyo managed. He hung the helmet at suit's belt, just like he did to his own, and continued to follow the lit-up emergency exit signs on the walls.

"Ah, great." The hallway had been sealed off from an attack with the door tightly locked. "Alright, Shiro. Magic hour time." Placing the body back down, Kyo put on their helmets before holding up his omni-tool to the door. It lit up and spun as Kyo made his best attempt to hack the security lock on his own. "Failed…failed…shit, I'm not an Engineer! Come on! Hey, Shiro! Help me out here!" There was then a laugh from Kyo, who knew he was only talking to thin air, but the tool lit up again. After a few seconds of running smoothly through lines of code, the red lock suddenly turned green. "….Huh. Weird." Once the door opened, the red sands of Mars rushed through the opening as Kyo found himself, once again, exposed to the dry air of the red planet. "Well, we're outside again. Shuttle shouldn't be too far from here. I hope." After tapping at the screen on the tool, there was a steady beep indicating where their ride was. "Bingo. Alright, Shiro. Here we go."

The body was lifted again and was moved to rest against Kyo's back. With that, the awkward pair began to walk their way through the fiery sand dunes as they headed towards the ship.


	2. Package Secure

It was roughly twenty feet out from the base's door when another message ticketed across Kyo's visor.

_Oxygen levels at 40%._

Crap.

In the midst of finding the half-dead body, Kyo had all but forgotten about his broken helmet's valve and his dangerously low supply of leaking breathable air. Maybe it was from the friendly reminder, but suddenly he could feel that the dizziness was setting in. It also didn't help that there was a noticeable heat increase that came with walking across the barren wasteland while carrying a passed-out creature on his back. "Just a bit longer to the shuttle, Shiro. Don't worry though, I'll get us there." Another friendly reminder popped up.

_Oxygen levels at 25%._

The extra weight was causing Kyo to breathe more heavily than he would from just simply walking on his own and was shortening his air supply at an alarming rate. Finally, up upon a large dune, he spotted the shuttle. "See, look. I told you I'd get us there…I…" Collapsing to one knee, the young man grunted in pain as he started to feel his chest burn. "Fuck, come on! The shuttle is right there! The…shuttle…Why is the shuttle moving?" From a distance, a cloud of sand that had kicked up from the jets of the transporter could be seen as ship started to take off. It made a vertical assent into the sky before flying over and landing neatly in front of the pair only after a few seconds. The hatch door opened to an unusual, but welcomed sight. Pushing himself up, Kyo ran at full sprint with his arms tightly wrapped around Shiro's legs over towards and finally inside of the ship. After eyeing the shuttle's seat, he was surprised to find it empty, despite the console being active and running. Once the hatch closed, the haul filled with fresh air.

Shiro was all but tossed down into an empty passenger seat as the awake solider removed the suffocating helmet in order to breathe in deeply. The fresh cold oxygen burned as it filled his lungs, but it was fine by him. Still, there was the matter of the shuttle flying itself. Sitting in the driver's seat, Kyo tapped away at the controls trying to figure out what the hell just happened. "Auto-pilot reprogrammed to land at these coordinates? How did it know where I was going to be? And at that exact time?" Looking over his shoulder, the dark eyes suspiciously looked at Shiro's limp body, though they weren't even going to pretend to know what was going on. All that mattered to Kyo was that he was still alive and secured the target package. As far as he was going to concern himself with, it was a successful mission and a closed case.

"This is Admiral Hackett. Come in ground team. Do you read me? Over." Turning back around, Kyo punched in a few commands trying to clear up the static.

"This is ground team to Hackett. Package secured, but we took heavy losses. I'm the only one that made it out. "

"Hackett to ground team, did you manage to find out what was causing those signals? Can you rendezvous with the fleet? Over." Now there was a question that Kyo was about to have trouble in answering.

"Ground team to Hackett. Uh, I think I grabbed what was in the Cerberus base, but this isn't any kind of technology. It's…" Heavy static filled the airwaves on both ends of the transmission as page after page of partially encrypted files started to manifest themselves onto several monitoring screens. What wasn't encoded provided lists of names, locations, and projects in which Cerberus had either taken control of or conducted in secret. Either by good fortune or not, some of the names were all too familiar to the Admiral's eyes. As the elder man stood to watch and read, there were certain keywords that caught his attention the most. These included dossiers on Kaidan Alenko and the rest of the Normandy team, as well as breakdowns of Reaper technology, Project: Overload, Codename: EDI and Project: EVA. Finally, the last file to pop up was Codename: Project Lazarus. When the screens finally ended the transmission, it only left the original channel open and a red blip on both Kyo's and the Admiral's galaxy maps. "Admiral? Hello? I just had a power surge with all these names come up? Do you read me?"

"I'm here, soldier. Tell me exactly what you found on that base. Over." Kyo turned around in his chair to look at Shiro's crumpled body once again.

"Uh…it's a person, I think. A young human man, but his looks are a bit…iffy. He's got all these implants and he's out cold. Completely non-responsive, but his vitals are good. He was in a self-perseveration tank in the lab."

"I see. Well, whatever it is just filled our servers with almost every piece of Cerberus information from the past five years, at the very least. Some of it is heavily encrypted, but I know a few of these names. Listen, what's your name, kid? Over."

"It's Takashi, sir. Sergeant Kyo Takashi. I was reassigned to this mission because I wear…"

"The new N7 Paladin armor, right? You use to be some kind of intergalactic singer before the attack, am I right? Didn't go into hiding like the rest of the celebrities?" Kyo pressed his lips together before answering.

"If I hid on the Citadel, I'd be dead by now, sir."

"True enough. Tell you what soldier; I need you to follow that red blip on your map. There's a makeshift docking port just outside of Jupiter right there. No idea what you're looking for, but keep an eye out for Human Spectre Major Kaidan Alenko. He's out there training some Biotic recruits and gathering supplies. I have a feeling you're being put on a scavenger hunt." This stunned the young Sergeant, delaying his response.

"Kaidan Alenko? Why would he bother talking to a grunt like me? I'm not even a Biotic and didn't he use to work with Commander Shepard?"

"He did. I'll tell you more when we know more. You have your orders."

"But sir, I…" The transmission ended and caused Kyo's eyes to narrow. "What about this damn body in the back of my car!? Shit!" Punching the console, the frustrated singer sighed. "I didn't mean it, Shiro." No response. "Right. To Jupiter then…"

The fifth planet from the sun was covered in noxious gases where only miners went to gather liquid metallic hydrogen while wearing strong hazard suits and operating hovercrafts. Despite the actual dangers of the planet itself, the sixty-six moons, however, made for great tourist spots. At least, that's what the brochures would say. In reality, it was a haven for dozens of shady slum bars full of mercs that were from the bottom of the barrel. For humans who were looking for a quick way out of the Sol system, either alive or in a body bag, the moons of Jupiter was the spot to go. Even Kyo, who often went to underground trashy places like these to get his Creeper or Hallex fix before the Reaper invasion, had never stepped onto one of these bases before. On the shuttle's control panel, he pulled up the galaxy map which was now displaying that annoying red blip that seemed to now dictate hiss life. It was firmly located on one of the smaller moons.

Since the invasion, many of the rundown cantinas and dives had been taken over as outlooks and small base camps. With any luck, this particular spot would be least somewhat friendly to the Alliance military by now. "So we're looking for this Kaidan Alenko guy? Hm, any idea where he might be, Shiro?" Turning the pilot chair around, Kyo looked to the unconscious man for some sort of sign. "Geesh, you really need to do something. Blink once for yes, twice for no? Wave your arms around? Nothing?" There was a beeping noise that suddenly came on Kyo's omni-tool which may have indicated that _something _he had just asked for. Holding the arm up, its pop-up screen displayed an image of the missing Major as a small animatronic voice spoke.

"_Scanning. Scanning. Found." _In the place of Major Alenko's face was now an arrow that kept pointing in the same direction no matter where Kyo moved, much like a compass.

"…Well, that's convenient", Kyo said to himself loudly, indicating that he was hardly surprised that this sort of weird shit kept happening anymore. The chair was then turned back as the solider tapped at the console up front. "This is Sergeant Kyo Takashi, Alliance Military, requesting permission to dock. Authorization code: Alpha Romeo four-two-niner."

"Copy that Sergeant, dock in bay 4-H. How many are in your landing party?" A gruff manish voice spoke over the radio in response to the hail.

"Just myself…and a…uh…drunk friend. He's passed out, you know, rough night."

"Ha, copy that. Clearance for two approved. Welcome to Base Turanga." The shuttle shook as it landed in the twisted metal of the thrown together docking bay that was littered with more than just a few ghost ships which had been stripped down to their frames for parts. When the hatch opened, Kyo had Shiro repositioned onto his back as he was saluted by a bearded dock worker. "Wow, when you said you had a friend passed out, we didn't think you meant it. You want to head to the med bay?"

"Nah, he's fine. Hey, have you seen or heard from Major Kaidan Alenko? I heard he's on this rock somewhere." There was a slight pause as the worker looked away. The shifting light brown eyes underneath the mess of mouse-blonde hair and Alliance baseball cap called his bluff long before an answer escaped the thin, dry lips.

"O-Only thing I know is that he was there for the final push with Commander Shepard. Shepard saved him before he…you know…"

"Yeah, I heard that too. Well, thanks anyway. Where can I get a drink around here?" The worker perked up immediately.

"Oh, take the path inside on the left and follow the lights. You can't miss it. Only place that isn't really dead around here. "

"Thanks, pal. Come on, Shiro." Shifting his weight, Kyo made sure he had a good hold on Shiro's thighs since the body was lying limp against the armored back. Out of sight, the Sergeant held up the omni-tool again. Turning, the arrow seemed to fixate in the same direction as the bar. It was a wonder why the Major was hiding in a place like this. It was all too hush-hush for Kyo's tastes, personally. While the streets seemed to be littered with various races, a good number of them were still human. There was a make-shift clinic being run by some Asari and Salarians, while Krogans and Turians patrolled to keep the mercs in line. There were even a few Quarians about, which was no surprise since this place was a giant scrapyard.

"Hey! Someone stop them!" The muffled yells of an older Quarian male were heard, causing Kyo to turn around as two suits ran by him in a dash.

"Keep your mouth shut and I'll give you thirty credits!" It was from the voice of a female suit that was then followed by a slightly smaller male one.

"Hey, hey you! Human!" The owner of the older male voice was seen. "Have you seen two kids around here. Quarian kids. They just ran off with a box of my tools and some Geth parts. They…"

"Sorry, I didn't see anyone. Was watching that fight over there." Pointing, Kyo motioned to the opposite direction of a Turian and Krogan having it out over what appeared to be either over an Asari or a pissing contest.

"Kelaah, another one. Well, if you see them I'll give you some credits if you can get my tools back."

"I'll keep an eye out, sir." Waving the human off, the Quarian went back to his workbench in despair. When out of sight, Kyo moved to look down the alleyway where the younger pair had taken off to. Curious, he kept walking until he spotted them hovered down and going through their new stash. "Hey."

Startled, the female jumped to her feet holding out what appeared to be a sonic screwdriver. "Stand back, I know how to use this!"

"…It's a screwdriver." So it was.

"Yes, but it can be very dangerous! I…" Laughing, Kyo used a free hand to try to motion that he wasn't about to start a fight.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you or shake you down. What the hell are you two doing anyway?"

"Fixing our Geth." The younger boy spoke up very clearly since he was obviously too busy in whatever he was doing to be concerned.

"Shut up, Chekov! Keelah, I told you to keep your big mouth shut." Chekov then turned to the female as his head tilted.

"But Leliah, we are…"

"Shush!" Kyo had stopped to watch, trying his best not to laugh which triggered a nervous laugh from Leliah, herself.

"Ha…haha…I'm Leliah and this minor, big-mouthed annoyance is my little brother, Chekov. We…are…just…well."

"Stealing parts to fix Geth, but you know they were wiped out from the Crucible, right? All the AI went dark and even VI flickered out from the EMP blast."

"Went dark, yes, but they are software. Software doesn't just 'die'. The program may be damaged or can't be read, but we can't just believe that they all died." There was sadness to her voice, along with a sense of longing. "We had Geth in our suits when the Crucible was fired. We felt them, you know? It's like they just went to sleep. If we can find a way to turn even one back on, then they can help with the others. They were helping us adapt and were our friends." Kyo looked to her helmet before the omni-tool went off again.

"He's on the move. Look kids, stop stealing and I have to go."

"Huh? A VI?" Before he knew it, Kyo's arm had been hijacked and started to be tapped away at by the curious girl. "Hmm, a biometric reading? Seems like it's in The Black Hole bar. No, this is wrong."

"Hey! Kid! Let go!" The struggle to pull away while carrying another human being without hurting the lady Quarian on accident seemed to be too much for Kyo to do right now. Instead, he just held still.

"There, the map is actually reading underground. I've updated your Nav-Point to show the underground tunnels. There's a training camp down there for human Biotics, so you should be able to find this Major Alenko or whoever the heck that is." Pulling up his own tool, Chekov began a search.

"Major Kaidan Alenko, Human Spectre; second most popular to Commander Shepard, especially since they started a romantic relationship. Continuing search on how Human males procreate with other human males…"

"Hey, you're a little young for porn, kid! Especially that kind!" Kyo all but face-palmed as Chekov seemed to be a bit too serious for his own age. "So, how do I get underground?"

"Well, I could show you…but…" There was a devious pause from Leliah.

"But?"

"You'll have to take us with you."

"No."

"Oh, come on! Look, we have these mechs programmed to fight for us and you're a little…preoccupied carrying that thing behind you. Not to mention, when you find this guy, you have to take us with you. We can't stay here on this rock forever!"

"I said no."

"You'll never find a way underground without us."

A heavy sigh escaped Kyo's lips and he turned. "Fine, but stay behind me and keep out of sight. I can fight with one-hand whatever giant sewer rats are down there and I'm dropping you off at the first major port, you got me?"

"Yes! Chekov! Get your stuff and ready the rocket mechs!"


	3. Major Kaidan Alenko

"_This_ is the secret underground passage?" The small group stood next to an open manhole with a service ladder that headed into the depths of the sewers. There was also a large, crudely painted wooden sign right next to the opening that even said, '_To the Underground Alliance Training Grounds_'.

"Yes, well. It's very confusing once you get down there!" Leliah tried to defend her obvious trickery as she let Chekov slide down the ladder first. The sister followed soon after, hitting the ground with a thud before calling up. "You can come down! It's safe now!" Rolling his eyes, Kyo was careful about sliding with only one good hand to get a decent grip with while the other hand tried to hold onto one of Shiro's legs so that he wouldn't fall to the filthy pavement below. Once landed, the heavy pistol was drawn with a lit flashlight on the tip to illuminate the way. Even though the floor was trailed in small white lights, it was still difficult to see clearly or to even tell what could be running around wild down here. Not seeing any immediate dangers, Kyo started to lead the small pack forward.

"Come on", he said in a hushed voice as he crept slowly forward with the pistol sharply aimed. The Quarians looked to each other before nodding. Following the lights, the tunnel echoed with muffled voices and dripping pipes, but it was the constant sound of footsteps that made Kyo uneasy. The sensitive ears of the singer could recognize the difference between ambient sounds and being followed.

"So what's the deal with you and that dead body?" The voice of the younger boy was inquisitive as usual, even though it had the tone of actually being uninterested.

"Chekov! Don't be rude…Ah…What he means to say is…", the sister interjected, but was cut off.

"What's with me and the dead body? I can hear just fine, thanks." The Sergeant's tone made Leliah uneasy, forcing out another nervous laugh from her.

"Haha…right…" Continuing to look forward with the weapon still drawn, Kyo answered without removing his gaze from what was in front of him.

"He's not dead. He's in some kind of coma, but I have my orders. He's the best lead I've got."

"But…he's not conscious."

"Tell me something I don't know." The omni-tool on the pistol carrying arm lit up again and the animatronic voice spoke on their updated condition.

"_Subject found. 10 meters. 5 meters. 1 meter."_

"Shit. GET DOWN NOW!" The arrow was pointing behind them as a distant, glowing blue light approached at rapid speed. Pushing the siblings down, Kyo took a knee before his omni-tool reshaped from a small hard-light screen into a large glowing orange shield. It was just in time to absorb the impact of a large biotic mass that would have tossed the party into various directions otherwise. Scrambling, the Quarians took cover to tap away at their own tools while tossing inert little drones towards the direction of the fight. They changed from the shape from small mechanical balls into little insect-like droids that began to shoot off small rockets into the direction of where the blue mass came from. While it seemed like a good idea at the time, the explosions on either side of them indicated that the missiles had been knocked away.

"Major Alenko, stand down!" Kyo shouted from behind his shield as he remained crotched to one knee. Stepping closer, the lit, blue cloud had a distinct shadow of an adult Human male in the middle of it.

"Why are you following me?" This was the first question Kaidan asked from the distance. It was both harsh and hoarse, but gradually getting closer. "Which merc team is it this time? Blue Suns? Blood Pack? Some Drell Assassin? I've seen them all." Still, Kyo's shield didn't drop, which was a good thing since Kaidan had teleported over and nearly shattered it with a close-ranged Biotic attack. The few shots that Kyo did manage to fire before having to brace himself for impact went through the Major as if Kaidan had been recreated into the form of water. Even buckled down, he was pushed a few feet backwards as the armored boots scrapped against the slick metal-grated flooring.

"Neither…I'm…with the Alliance. Hackett…sent…me!" It took a great deal of determination and raw strength just to push Kaidan back as the shield recovered power, but it left Kyo winded. It might have also been a good thing there was a body on top of him now, seeing as the extra weight may have been what kept the Sergeant from flying down the sewer tunnel. Pausing, Kaidan took a look to his left to see the pair of Quarians. Watching their fear helped the hostile Spectre regain his senses. The tremendous force that enflamed his body was reduced from a raging blue to a gentle glow.

"Hackett did? Why me?"

"No idea, sir, I just have my orders to find you…and…I was sort of led here."

"By the Quarians?" Kaidan turned to look at Kyo only briefly before looking back at the younger kids.

"Yes and no, sir", Kyo answered but still did not trust Kaidan enough to drop his defenses. Exhausted from the short but intense battle, he continued to speak. "If you're done trying to kill me, I'll answer your questions to be best of my ability, though it won't amount to much."

"Fine. Come on." Teleporting yet again, Kaidan's body flickered and reappeared in front of a worn-out Kyo and two terrified Quarians to take the lead. Dark eyes narrowed as Kyo watched the Major move about in such a way. It reminded him entirely too much of how he would watch Banshees flicker about before shoving their arms into the bodies of his teammates. He had a general distain for Biotics to begin with and now this one in particular even more so. Still, he got was he wanted and turned to the Quarians.

"Come out, guys. It's alright now." The siblings nodded, getting up as they gathered their tiny bots to cradle in their arms as they followed along. Kaidan didn't speak for the entire five minutes or so walking before he opened a nearly invisible door that led to a rather clean and well-lit apartment. There were several monitors stationed at a small desk and a well-made bed in the corner with surprisingly white sheets. On the nightstand was a photo, turned down onto its face. Sitting in the only chair at the desk, Kaidan turned to face Kyo with a swivel as the siblings took seats upon the soft bed. Of course, when Shiro's body was tossed down between them, they quickly scattered off like little mice to stand in opposite corners of the room. Sighing as the weight was removed from his body, the Sergeant took a moment to stretch and look around. "Nice place."

"Uh huh, so you said that Admiral Hackett sent you over? For what? To hide a body? There are better people for that sort of job around here." Kaidan spoke with suspension in his voice, eyeing the motionless corpse that was now on top of his clean sheets.

"That's Shiro, so I call him, and he's not dead. He's just…weird", Kyo pointed out in a minor attempt to clarify.

"Right, you have some drugged body instead? What do you really want from me, kid? I haven't got all day." There was another sigh as Kyo reached over to pull the Major up into a standing position. He then took Kaidan's omni-tool bearing arm by the wrist in order to hold it over Shiro's body.

"Look, this is gonna sound weird, but this guy wanted me to find you. Just…stand there for a second. Something's gonna happen."

"Something?" Kaidan asked in disbelief. "Like what? Look, I…" His speech was abruptly cut off as his own omni-tool enabled a display screen before it started to speak to him.

"_Scanning. Scanning. Subject Found: Major Kaidan Alenko. Access granted."_

"What in God's name?" Kaidan's screen flickered to show a video playback that was only static at first before it became very clear. It was from a security camera in Huerta Memorial Hospital and what was being played was a recording from right after when he was attacked by that Cerberus robot. From the looks of it, this recording was from while he was still unconscious and bedridden. Kaidan watched as Commander Shepard spoke from the doorway of his hospital room, saying things he didn't remember hearing in that state.

"I need you", was Shepard's final line before the audio cut out. It made Kaidan's chest tighten.

"…Shepard", the Major said breathlessly as the screen froze on Shepard's expression as the Commander eyed Kaidan's battered body sadly just before leaving. As Kaidan's fingers touched the digital image of his lover's face, the display changed to the galaxy map instead. Once again, the electronic voice of the tool spoke.

"_Scanning. Scanning. Subject found: Dr. Liara T'soni. Additional subjects required. System shutting down."_

"Liara? Wait! No! Dammit!" No matter how much Kaidan seemed to pound at his forearm, the screen would not return with the same image as before. Kyo had wandered off and taken liberties to turn up the facedown picture upright, seeing that it was the same face from Kaidan's display.

"You", Kaidan said as he shot a glare to the prying Sergeant. "What the hell just happened?" He then forced the frame back down as he grabbed it from the Sergeant's hand.

"Even if I took a guess, you wouldn't believe me anyway. I don't even believe it myself" The weary eyes from both men then peered over at Shiro, who still remained as he always had been.

"Try me." Looking to the Major, Kyo then looked away in youthful rebellion. After taking a seat upon the bed, he then moved Shiro's arm to rest on top of the mattress instead of dangling off to the side.

"What do you know about Cerberus?" The question was serious enough and unwavering. It also caused Kaidan's hazel eyes to narrow with even more rage.

"Enough. Get to the point."

"This guy", Kyo began with a pointed gesture, "is a Cerberus project. He's got all these implants in his body and I think he's leading us somewhere. He does stuff that messes with tech. It's like a ghost in the machine or something. He only does it for a little while, but his body doesn't move at all. He's breathing and there's a heartbeat, so I think that he's trying to tell us something, but can't?"

"What?" Kyo was right about one thing and it was that Kaidan didn't believe him in the least bit. "You're saying he's an AI? Trapped in a human body? That's completely ridiculous…" Although admittedly, this wasn't the first time that someone suggested that something like that was possible to him.

"No", Kyo answered. "I think he's human…and more. I don't know. I'm not into that sort of thing. I don't feel worried about it though. I don't think he's a bad guy. He's just trapped, I guess. He led me to you and wants to find others."

"Ah…excuse me, but are you saying that he's what? A program? You think he's programmed to only give information to certain people?" The female Quarian seemed suddenly fascinated with this idea, but no one could answer her question. In fact, the room remained quiet before Kyo's intercom went off.

"Sergeant? Sergeant, do you read me? Did you find Major Alenko?" The voice coming in was all too familiar to both soldiers.

"Yes sir, he's right here."

"Major, this is Admiral Hackett. Have you been briefed on the current situation?"

Still in disbelief, Kaidan remained quiet for a moment as he looked to the body on his bed before answering. "More or less, sir."

"Good. I need you to join this mission."

"No offence sir, but what mission?"

"Then you are not aware? The subject that was found at the Cerberus base flooded our intel with files dating back over twenty years. We are still working on the encryption, but we have some broken information on Project Lazarus. We believe the subject is looking for the rest of the Normandy team. We also believe that we are looking for Commander Shepard."


	4. The Empty Starry Sky

"Shepard?" Kaidan's voice cracked slightly just at the thought of going down that road again. "But Admiral, you know as well as I do that's not possible. We spent weeks looking in the Citadel, moving through all those bodies and testing human remains for DNA matches. We spent even more time than that just combining through London and for what? Whatever Shepard did, he saved us all…and now he's gone."

"Do you really believe that, Major?" There was a small sigh as Kaidan looked away. A hand moved to cover his mouth before sliding upward to rub the pair of tired hazel eyes.

"I don't have a choice. None of us do."

"We didn't then, Major, but this may be our last chance. If nothing else, we need to know what's going on. We can't afford another surprise attack, am I understood?" Kaidan remained silent for the few seconds he rubbed the inner corners of his eyelids before answering his superior.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Major, I'm putting you in charge of Sergeant Takashi and the experiment. Keep them safe. I've also contacted the Normandy."

"The Normandy? Is Joker still flying?"

"Let's just say he was more than happy to get out of the classroom and back into the pilot's seat. Rendezvous in four hours at the dock. Hackett out." The transmission was cut, leaving Kaidan in silence with the others.

"I should have left when I had the chance", he mumbled before turning to his newfound crew. "Get your gear together and let's head out. All of you. This is no place for kids to be alone and we could use some technical help."

"We're taking _them_?" Even Kyo had to question the Major's decisions to bring a pair of young Quarians along.

"Stop hassling me, Sergeant. Gather up your dead body over there and let's move out."

"I keep telling you he's not dead…" Lifting the limp companion off the bed was a bit of a hassle. "First thing we do when you're awake is put you on a diet, Shiro. You're getting heavy. Don't worry about the Major either. He's just a bitter old Biotic. We both know you're not really dead."

"Would you stop talking to that thing? You're creeping me out."

"See. Bitter old Biotic."

"I'm not old!"

"That salt and pepper hair of yours says otherwise."

"That's just a sign of maturity!"

"And old age."

"Would you two stop it already?! Sounding like a couple of bos'hetts! Come on, Chekov. Let's head back to the surface." Being told off by the young woman was embarrassing to both of the Human soldiers, who then decided to bury the hatchet for now. Adjusting his frame, Kyo slipped Shiro's arms around his neck to carry the body piggyback style again as Kaidan was the last to leave the apartment. The Major's omni-tool locked the door behind them, but he then went in the opposite direction of the tunnel from which they came.

"This way, we'll take the elevator to the docks." Another hidden panel opened a few feet down from where the group was standing that led to a cramped-fit as technically five people squeezed inside. The awkward silence and slow ascend was interrupted by a soft-spoken, but strong singing voice. Turning their heads in unison, everyone stopped to look at Kyo in the back of the elevator, who was off staring into nowhere until he noticed that he was being watched. Abruptly, the singing stopped.

"…What?" Wide-eyed, Kyo returned the stares with an eyebrow raise of his own as if he had just accidently offended someone. After cracking a corner smile, Kaidan only shook his head before returning his eyes towards the elevator doors.

"You've got a set of pipes on ya, kid."

"Oh", the Sergeant responded without any sort of surprise. "Yeah, sorry. Habit."

"Singing in elevators is a habit?" The teasing question came from Leliah.

"Not just elevators. You should hear me in the shower." Her inquiry was answered with a teasing wink which both startled and flustered the young woman at the same time.

"Well…if you insist…" This was to be the first time that Kaidan finally eased off the seriousness of his nature since meeting the Sergeant as Chekov tapped away at his omni-tool in order to both answer a question of his and to occupy himself. After finding what he was looking for, the smallest of the party spoke in a monotone voice.

"Kyo Takashi, lead singer of the Earth pop duo, _Otherside_. Number of Earth hit singles: five. Number of Galactic hit singles: four. Tickets for live concerts range from three-hundred to fifteen-hundred credits." At this point, Kaidan had broken out in laughter.

"Wait…wait. _Pop singer_? You're a freakin' popstar?"

"Well, yes", Kyo answered what he expected to be an insult as if there was really no point in denying that fact. "Everyone had a life _before_ the Reapers, except for you maybe."

"Well, I've always been a soldier. Still, if we run into any bad guys then maybe you can put them to sleep with a lullaby or something? You know, since your aim isn't worth shit." Smirking, Kaidan felt as if he had just one-upped for the salt and pepper comment earlier. The Sergeant could only glare in response until a datapad was held in front of his face.

"Could I get an autograph print? I _love _your band", asked a newly overstimulated young lady next to him.

"I…um…sure?" Reaching out, Kyo tapped the pad which caused Leliah to squeak a bit in excitement.

"Don't know why I didn't recognize you earlier? I guess it's been a long time since I really sat down and listened to some good music."

"Ah great, now we're going to have every teenage girl chasing after us…" Continuing his snippy comments, Kaidan held the slight smile that he had made from earlier as the elevator doors opened and allowed for the crew to finally wiggle out of the small, white, steel box.

"I'm going to head to the shops for a while to gather some supplies. You three…er...four, wait here until I get back. "

"Yeah, yeah." Bitterly, Kyo just walked off to head towards the guard railing in order to watch some ships fly in and out. Leliah looked to the back of Kaidan's black and white armor as the older man walked off before taking in a deep breath of her own. She was relieved that the tension had at least died down, though sensed a great deal of pain in both soldiers. Despite the war being over with the destruction of the Reapers, there was still a great deal of work to be done. Rebuilding broken ships and buildings were one thing, but the humans were nearly entirely harvested. The Bartarians were all but extinct as well. Both were a surprisingly rare sight, spread thin across the galaxy. Everyone had taken heavy losses. Looking to her little brother, she smiled, who returned the favor. Despite their helmets, the Quarians were very much attuned to each other's feelings. It was all about mood and body language. Losing their parents only strengthened that bond and need for family. Standing alone, Kyo seemed to be quietly carrying out a full conversation with Shiro. He wasn't sure when that had turned into a normal thing, but there he was, doing it anyway.

"Look at that, Shiro. Another human cruiser. You don't really see enough of them now and days, do we?" The empty starry sky was comforting after the Reaper invasion. "I use to watch ships like this back in Tokyo with my brother. We'd climb on top of the jungle gym together, talking about how we'd own one of those someday. Well, we weren't really brothers. We were in the orphanage together, you know. No one wanted us, so we made up our own family. He had bright blonde hair, so it's not like people would really believe that we were really related anyway right? Well, no offense. Your hair is a funny color too, sorry." Shifting his weight again, Kyo had to readjust the body before his shoulders went numb. "You know, you're not that fat. Must be all those implants or something? Dead weight, I guess…not that you're dead. Don't listen to what Major Asshole says. I know you're alive. I can feel your heartbeat pounding against my back. You're also breathing in my ear and it kinda tickles. Thank God you don't snore."

The conversation continued as if two old friends were catching up as the siblings on the other side of the dock took up in a corner to clean off their ball-sized droids and dig through the extranet for entertainment. Kaidan's private time was spent in deep thought as he picked up medi-gel packs, extra thermal clips, and food rations for the trip. Walking past a glass window, he stopped to look at his own reflection. Sure, he now had a few more strands of white hair amongst the combed back black waves, but it was the weariness of both the war and losing Shepard that showed up the most in his tired eyes. For months, he believed that Shepard was still alive. He was first to volunteer for the recovery team in London and even spearheaded the effort to go through the remains of thousands of bodies that were left in various places around the Citadel. The only thing he managed to find were Shepard's blackened N7 dog tags that were now around Kaidan's own neck. Pulling the chain out from behind the polished black and white stripped chest piece, he cupped them in his palm as a thumb gently caressed over the name.

'_What happened to you?'_


	5. Intermission I (NSFW)

"Traynor. Hold my calls."

"Sir?" Commander Shepard walked quickly past Specialist Traynor's standing desk area on his way to the elevator. Right behind him was Major Alenko, seemingly going in the same direction. As the Commander hit the call button on the panel, Kaidan stood next to him as they gave each other a knowing smile. Shepard looked away as he attempted to straight his composure to readdress his Comm Specialist.

"Hold my calls. I'll be in a meeting with Major Alenko until further notice." There was a small ding as the double doors slid open, allowing for both men to walk inside. They stood next to each other At Ease, though shared a few shy glances and obvious smirks. Once the doors began to close, Traynor turned her head around just enough to catch a glimpse of the Major moving to all but rush Shepard, embracing him for a passionate kiss.

"Meeting my arse", the Specialist smirked as she looked back to her console to type away. "Holding calls…and well done, Commander." Smirking to herself, she wished that she had the guts to make that bet with Joker after all. She would have won. Inside the moving elevator, Kaidan had pressed his body up against Shepard's to effectively sandwich the Commander between a cold steel wall and himself. His hands cupped the scruffy face as their lips refused to separate. If they began to dry out, Kaidan would then gently lick them over in a slow tease that would cause Shepard to chuckle softly. Despite the fact that it didn't take more than a few seconds to reach the captain's cabin, the heavy breathing between the two men were as if they had just run a marathon.

The quick beating of their hearts pounded in their chests as they began to playfully tease one another by pushing and pulling each other out of the elevator and past the sliding door that led to the inside of the cabin. Their bodies became momentarily separated as Shepard moved away just far enough in order to unzip his worn black N7 hoodie that was then tossed carelessly at Kaidan, who managed to catch it with one hand just before it hit him in the face. It was then tossed to the sofa as the Major moved to intercept Shepard in the middle of the room. Hands went around the Commander's waist to feel underneath the form-fitting black t-shirt. Fingernails scratched at the muscular back, feeling over deep scarring and indentations from wearing such heavy armor day in and day out. The two sets of eyes stared at each other as noses gently caressed while their breath mingled. "They were a shade of greyish-blue before, weren't they? Your eyes, I mean", Kaidan asked as his fingers lingered on the small of Shepard's back.

Looking away, Shepard gave a nod. He knew more than anyone just how artificial his eyes were now, modeled after the Illusive Man himself in a circular pattern that was similar to Saren's after his indoctrination. However, instead of the signature blue swirls of Reaper influence, they were instead a defiant red that contrasted strongly against black irises. "They were same color as my mother's, so I've been told. Not that I ever met her really." The tone of Shepard's voice reflected an almost ashamed admittance to the fact that he had neither known his mother and that his eyes only further confirmed that he was once at the mercy of Cerberus when they pieced him back together. His face remained turned away until Kaidan's hand gently pinched its chin in order to regain his gaze.

"They're yours now, so it doesn't matter…" Leaning in, their lips touched again. This was a kiss that was filled with a small apology for bringing the subject up in the first place before their tongues slipped passed their barriers. From inside the shirt, the Major's hands grabbed the fabric and started to lift it up. Again, their bodies separated as Shepard's arms came up for the shirt to be removed. The pulling of it up and over his head thoroughly messed the once flattened black hair into boyish spikes. It was also unfortunate that the standard issue Alliance uniform shirt was a bit more complicated that an old-school tee, but Shepard's practiced hands managed to unzip the back, unbuckle the harnesses in the front, and began the ascent upwards on Kaidan's torso without much difficulty.

It was the Major's turn to lift his arms up now with a cocky grin on the freshly licked-over plush lips that had stationed itself onto his face. With the white and blue padded shirt removed, Shepard then gave it a firm toss towards the sofa so that it would land on top of his own tee. The weight of it caused the piece of clothing to land with a heavier thud as the Commander took no time at all to pull Kaidan against his own bare skin. The tip of his nose gently traced the muscle line upward on the Major's neck as his heavy breathing both warmed and tickled the sensitive area. When the patterned black and red eyes looked up, they caught the attention of the honey-colored hazel ones that were looking down.

They were gentle in their gaze, approving of Shepard's cautious movements of curious touching and exploring. His own back and sides were being touched as well, being dominantly squeezed near the pants lining at the hips. The hands of both of the men then started to move back towards the front and down, lining up with opposing pants buttons and zippers. While Shepard looked downward to see his fingers work at undoing the Major's belt, there was a gentle kiss that was planted upon his forehead that brought about an uncontrollable smile. On one hand, it was extremely comforting to the nervous Commander, but the quivering of Kaidan's lips also assured him that the Major was also feeling the same way.

As the zipper slid down the metal teeth, so did Shepard move to his knees. The heavy combat pants fell rather quickly around the black combat boot that Kaidan had neglected to take off when coming into the room. The throbbing bulge that was hidden away inside pants was now much more visible and only confined by the tight-fitting black mix of spandex and cotton underwear he wore with Shepard's face close enough that it pulsated against the Commander's nose. Looking up, Shepard saw that Kaidan had a fixated his own gaze looking down, but the light brown eyes diverted off to the side once they were caught staring. A shade of pink began to manifest to the clean shaven cheeks as his pale lips pressed together in anticipation.

With twin index fingers, the boxer-briefs were pulled down in order to free the painful erection from its confinement. The ripe tip was swollen pleasantly and gave off the distinct smell of an adult male as it radiated heat in all directions. It also twitched uncontrollably under every breath that Shepard took near it. "Hm, benefits?" Shepard mumbled teasingly to mock Kaidan's early comments over their lunch date before running the pointed edge of his tongue underneath the flesh from base to knob. Eyelids closed on both men as the tongue continued to lap over and tease the twitching meat. It had to be wet first, as large as it was, or else the skin would catch at the corners of the Commander's mouth. Licking the sides took a little more effort as a hand had to come up in order to hold the mass in place. While it was there, it at least gave Kaidan a few slow and loving strokes which made his entire body shudder. Eventually, one of his own hands came to grab the black spiked hair, which was pulled and tugged at as a means to encourage Shepard to continue.

As the other man's lips covered his tip, Kaidan's own mouth parted a bit more to lick over the dryness that came about from his panting. Even with his eyes barely open, he still managed to look down just so that he could watch Shepard's face disappear and reappeared beneath the tuff of black pubic hair. Secretly, he was disappointed he couldn't see the slight dribble of clear saliva that ran down the corners of Shepard's mouth and off the stubbled chin. He could, however, feel the sweat on the back of the man's neck just below the cropped hair line as the moaning that came from the throaty depths forced Kaidan to shudder once again. His dick would have a slight chill to it when the mouth would pull away to give way for a few rough stokes. The combination of the two, especially combined with any twisting motion made orally or manually near the swollen tip, started to become entirely too much for the Major to handle. There were even flickers of glowing blue light as the uncontrollable muscle spasms triggered Biotic powers.

"Shepard…I-", Kaidan tried to warn the Commander, but sudden eruption into his mouth had already surprised him. Instead of being upset about it, Shepard's recently opened eyes narrowed with arrogant victory. The sucking continued with the swallowing of the fresh semen before pulling off with a very audible pop. Upon standing up once again, Shepard moved to grab a half empty bottle of purple liquid from the glass coffee table. His thumb popped the cap open before he took a swig. Swishing the drink around caused his cheeks to puff briefly as he rinsed out the inside of his violated mouth before swallowing it down with a hard laugh.

"We need to work on our communication a little better, Kaidan", he teased before taking another quick drink of the strong alcohol. While laughing as well, Kaidan had taken a seat at the edge of the bed and began to pull off his boots so that he could finally kick off the dropped pants and underwear.

"Probably." The Commander handed over the bottle to the Major, who then took a drink as Shepard sat down as well to remove his own boots and pants, but left the boxers on. The erection underneath the black fabric was prominent and even more so when it was directly in front of Kaidan's face as Shepard took the bottle back. Topping off what was left, the Commander peered down upon his prey. If what he wanted wasn't obvious enough, he playful began to thrusts his hips forward in order to make the covered tip poke at Kaidan's cheek and nose. Laughing, the Major finally complied as he tugged the front of the boxers down.

"Alright, alright. I can take a hint, though you'll have to excuse me if I'm not as great as you are. Hey, where did you learn how to be that good at it anyway?" Shepard raised one of his dark eyebrows at the question.

"You really want to know?"

"…On second that, you know, maybe I really don't."

"I didn't think so", Shepard then laughed as he tossed the empty bottle into a trashcan on the far side of the room without it even having to circle the rim. The feel-good rush of the alcohol was already taking effect on both of the men, mixing in nicely with the warm and fuzzy feelings that were already there. In silliness, the Major gave Shepard's exposed slit a lick to test out the merchandise. It was obvious he had never done this before, to which he would be forgiven for not being that skilled or enthused about it. It was the willingness and thought that counted, at least for the first few times. Shepard would make sure to give his unseasoned lover plenty of chances to practice. Still, it felt good though. Despite the obvious lack of experience, Kaidan slowly slid his tongue over the meat with his fingers being careful around the shaft as to not to grab it too roughly. The hazel eyes had closed which cranked up the level of sexiness a notch or two. What the Major couldn't swallow down, he made up for in loving strokes and gentle kisses.

The playfulness of the mood died down into a heavy heat of wanton lust. Shepard moved his hands up to finger comb and grip into the black and white waves of hair. His hips started to push back and forth slowly as Kaidan held onto Shepard's sides, pushing at the embedded nerves there that shot jolts of electricity throughout Shepard's body. Moving away from the bones, they then slid behind to feel and cup the muscled ass cheeks while looking for a soft place to spank. The first strike was rubbed in, but the second one wasn't. Shepard hissed in a mix of both pain and pleasure, but didn't make any moves to stop or pull away from it. The third strike was harder and louder than the first two and was followed by a few more hits to the same place afterward. Shepard could feel the intense burn that had formed on his rear end. If the spanking wasn't shocking enough, he was even more surprised when Kaidan had flipped them over to place Shepard onto his back pressed against the mattress.

Looking up, the Commander raised an eyebrow inquisitively as curious eyes watched the Major kiss down from his smooth neck and past his muscled torso until stopping just underneath his trimmed back, black pubic hair. As the now slippery erection twitched against his set of toned abs, Shepard decided that it was about time that he spread his legs as well. "So…how exactly…do I get to uh…go inside?" It was an honest and flustered question that beat around the bush of their current situation. Kaidan wanted badly to be inside of Shepard and sadly wasn't really sure how to go about it. Sure, he knew the general idea as anyone who was able to hack into his extranet search results could tell you. The idea wasn't all that complicated, but execution…Well, that was a different story.

"Medi-gel works." Shepard's response was prompt, accurate, and even a bit playful.

"Right…medi-gel. I think I read something about that."

"Doing your homework, Major?"

"Ha…yeah", Kaidan confessed with a blush returning to his face. "Well, it was all theory. You had to accept my confession first. Either that or get you good and wasted. Glad it was the first option, but you know, I was willing to try the other one to." Shepard smiled, easily taking in by Kaidan's sincerity.

"Lucky for both of us then, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is", Kaidan responded, typing in a command onto his omni-tool. "There. Medi-gel on hand, so I'm just going to…yeah." During the small talk, he had gotten just a small amount of secretion to his fingertips. He was even polite enough to make sure it wasn't freezing-cold anymore before reaching down between the spread cheeks. The pucker was tight, to be certain, despite Shepard's relaxed mood. An index finger was pushed inside, going in up to the knuckle without much difficulty. Shepard made a noise, though it obviously wasn't from discomfort. His slicked over erection throbbed against the skin of his abdomen as the black and red eyes shut tightly closed. The finger was then pulled out entirely before being pushed back in with a second digit this time. Both were being slid in and out from base to tip, curving along the natural path and scissoring the ring open and shut.

Biting down on his bottom lip, Shepard began to shift about on the bed. His hands gripped tightly onto the white sheets and blankets until they white-knuckled while his breathing became increasing irregular and heavy. It was an arousing sight for Kaidan, knowing that with just his fingers, he could get the stoic Commander to pant and want so easily. It wasn't long before his own sex was once again, stiff from anticipation. Pulling his fingers out, Kaidan then pulled himself up to be chest to chest with the Commander. Shifting his weight, Shepard wiggled slightly underneath the Major on top of the crumpled fuzzy blanket. His legs were then moved to a high angle at Kaidan's shoulders to rest there at bent knee when the Major pulled his upper body away. Turning his head, Kaidan's lips caressed over a kneecap as his hands moved to hold up the undersides of Shepard's muscled thighs. Sitting straight up upon his knees, Kaidan watched and made sure that his own erection, which had been eagerly pushing up against the slick opening, actually made it in. The first few attempt were failures as Kaidan either accidently hotdogged Shepard's cheeks or slide up past the taint to nudge against the fuzzy sack.

Moving a hand down, Kaidan held himself steady as he gave a more forceful push. There was resistance, at first, before the flesh was forced to spread open whether it actually wanted to or not. Closing his eyes once again, Shepard's upper body twisted to one side as he hissed. The Commander's manhood twitched and jumped about as his insides clamped down around Kaidan's length. The squeeze caused Kaidan to hiss as well and forced out an unexpected moan. Finally nestled in, he leaned over to nudge his nose against the skin of Shepard's neck and the razor stubble of the turned away face in an attempt to get its attention. Shepard finally reacted as he turned just enough to catch Kaidan's mouth with a heated kiss. It was Shepard's turn to playfully lick them moist again, which caused them to smile. Kaidan then returned the favor and soon, the licking began to intensify from teasing laps to passionate swirling. When Kaidan started to push back and forth, the kissing stopped if only simply to be able to breathe. His hands were planted off to the side, grabbing at the sheets for leverage with his face buried in Shepard's neck as he continued to pant and moan. Shepard's head was tilted back, gasping for air while making a display of himself in whimpers and encouraging noises. That was until Kaidan turned him over entirely.

Facedown, Shepard's cries were muffled by the mattress and pillows. He had to force himself up for air after Kaidan remounted the laid out body from behind. This time, the Major's heavy breathing and kisses were against the back of Shepard's neck or against an exposed ear. When not pressing Shepard down into the bed, Kaidan's heavy hands were instead either kneading into Shepard's vulnerable rear or were busy spanking the meaty parts on both cheeks until they were equally rosy. "Dammit, Kaidan", Shepard grumbled in minor protest during his weak attempts to shake the hands off.

"Shhh, I'm having fun."

"I bet…Ah!" Shepard was suddenly cut off as he was hit again, but at least this time it was rubbed in to alleviate the sharp pain. Kaidan finally stopped the abuse to lean his body over again as he forced push after push in and out of Shepard's buff frame. They became quicker and more desperate, trying to reach deeper inside to every time before that. Both male voices soon cried out into the room, echoing off the metal walls before coming to a fever pitch. As Kaidan moaned from his release as Shepard grunted at being filled. The only noises that were left were that of panted breathing and a squeaking bed. Kaidan managed to pull out, wishing to God that he didn't have to. The tightness around his manhood felt like he was pulling off a Band-Aid. Shepard fared no better as his gapping backdoor pushed out the white fluid in a slow secretion. When forced to rollover, Kaidan was surprised as to just how sticky his lover's groin was, finding it hard to believe that the Commander came from mostly penetration. While he didn't say anything, Shepard caught the look and felt embarrassed. "It's…been a while for me, alright? Stop looking at me like that…"

Feeling mighty proud of himself, Kaidan tried his best to be polite about the situation. "Looking like what? I just…assumed…"

"Next time, you won't be so lucky." With that, Kaidan released his held in laugh while moving to lie down on his side so that he could curl up against the other nude body.

"Is that a challenge?" Looking to each other, the question remained unanswered as the pair began to softly kiss once again. It was finally the start of an itch that had taken years to scratch in what should have been done in weeks. There was a lot of time to make up for with an uncertain future.


	6. Shepard's Old Coat

Kaidan rolled over while still asleep in the bed that really was too large for just one person. His dreams were extremely vivid as the memories replayed themselves in his mind. While asleep, a hand of his had grabbed onto one of the white pillows tightly that still had the lingering scent of Shepard. A tear rolled down a flushed cheek that was wiped away by an invisible caress. The touch was surprising warm and comforting, which helped Kaidan's distorted sad face release its tension. The held in breath was also let out slowly but it caused the unseen hand to quickly pull away. Above the two bodies, the starlight from the glass ceiling twinkled brightly for a brief moment. The light danced across the holographic cloaking that was being used just long enough to make out the silhouette of the stealthed person sitting next to Kaidan. Their shadow stretched across the floor but then moved to spread itself across the bed as the ship changed directions. Silently, the visitor's head turned to look at the door before deciding to leave the room as quietly as they came in. The opening and shutting noises of the automatic entryway may have been the reason why the Major finally woke up, but there wasn't a trace of anyone else other than himself.

Gasping, Kaidan sat up abruptly in the center of the bed. With his nude upper body exposed, he made an attempt to peer through the darkness as tired hazel eyes attempted to adjust to the poor lighting. There was nothing there, of course. Why would there be? Still, the tingle on his cheek could still be felt, even after Kaidan rubbed the area. There was lingering sensation that felt strange, yet familiar. The quietness of the ship made Kaidan even more uneasy and forced him to stand from the bed wearing nothing but his boxers. Slowly, he stretched out his muscled back and followed it up with a few torso twists that helped to release the tension. Lastly, the neck and shoulders were rotated until the joints gave way with a few moderately loud pops. Moving to the closet, Kaidan reached inside to grab a shirt, but something stopped him. Stuffed in the back on a wire hanger, he found a worn black hoodie that was branded with N7 logo and stripes. His brown eyes softened as he carefully removed it from storage.

There was a stronger scent here than that of what was on the pillows and it was something which Kaidan inhaled deeply from the soft warm fabric as it was hugged to his bare chest. How many times did he scold Shepard for wearing this thing? It was entirely inappropriate, but the Commander never seemed to care. After careful consideration, Kaidan finally decided what to wear. Soon after he pulled on a tight white t-shirt, Kaidan slipped the hoodie on top of it. There were even holes in this thing. Some from just being worn too damn much for sure, but he was also pretty certain that some of these were from being shot at. More importantly, the smell of his lover had completely surrounded him and caused the Major to take in another deep breath before making an attempt to find a pair of pants. On the deck below, Kyo had curled up in a chair with his head resting on his armored folded arms at the ledge of the hospital bed where Shiro had been placed inside of the med bay. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep when Kaidan walked in. "Sergeant? Kyo! Wake up!"

"Huh? What? What?" Kyo opened his eyes as his head slowly rose with a child-like expression on his face. Still groggy, he even stopped to rub his eyes as he yawned loudly.

"Any changes?" Kaidan asked, looking down at both Shiro and Kyo from where he was standing. The Doctor had been running tests on Shiro with several machines, but retired some time ago to get some rest long before Kyo had fallen asleep at Shiro's side. Looking to the unconscious man in front of him, the Sergeant didn't see any noticeable differences. With a yawn, Karin Chakwas emerged from her new bed chambers made up where EDI's AI Core was still located, however barren. A cozy cot worked perfectly in the little room. Checking the machines, she then took out a datapad and started to type away at it lazily until something seemed to catch her interest.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you who this is, Major." Folding his arms over his chest, Kaidan looked onward.

"Why not? No records?" he asked. "Maybe he was a slave or runaway? Not every colony documents births correctly. Some are real backwater, you know?"

"Actually, no", the Doctor answered as she continued to type at her pad. "There are records, but they have been wiped clean and locked down by our own military. This is not strictly Cerberus's doing." Well, that wasn't an answer that Kaidan was looking for.

"What? That can't be right. Run it again." But he took the pad from her before she could get started so that he could attempt to access the files on his own.

"Unlock files A dash four-eight-seven F through A dash four-eight-nine Q. Spectre authority, Major Alenko, Kaidan." The digital voice chimed in to acknowledge that the command had been heard and processed.

"_Spectre status recognized. Accessing data files. Access denied."_

"Denied?" Kaidan was actually surprised about that. "On whose authority?"

"_Classified."_, the voice answered promptly before shutting the program down.

"There's something else, Major." Staring at the pad, the frustrated Spectre finally moved his eyes up to look towards Karin.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Our mystery man here is not in a coma."

"Not in a coma?" Another surprise. "What is he doing then? Faking it?"

"Do you remember when you were attacked by the Collectors? How they used those nasty bugs for some sort of stasis field which left you fully aware and unable to move? Because I surely do…" Kaidan lowered the datapad in hand as he tried to consider what the woman was suggesting.

"Are you telling me that he's paralyzed, Doctor?" In agreement, Karin nodded.

"Yes, I believe Cerberus got a hold of how to make a similar chemical, highly modified by the looks of it." She carefully reached over to pluck her pad away from the Major's hand so that she could type out what she meant to originally show him. After a few keystrokes, Karin turned it over so that he could see the diagram of a human figure marked with injection points. "They may have used Mordin's work to try to make their own soldiers immune, but it looks like this one was being kept for some reason. Perhaps it was the control subject? I'm not exactly sure why they would put all this money into these implants and then make his body unable to move. It doesn't make sense, but then again, Cerberus rarely did."

"The Illusive Man was off clean off his rocker near the end, wasn't he?" Kaidan sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose trying to make sense of it all. "Maybe he's one of the Cerberus defectors? Looking at him, he'd be nasty to have as an enemy."

"Perhaps, but I would advise against awaking him. He could also be the very definition of a sleeper agent, Major. I ran some scans on the implants, but didn't get much I'm afraid. They are similar to Shepard's but more complex; however, every time I try to run a more advanced scan, my equipment seems to fail."

"He's blocking your access. I told you already that." Kyo stood up before he finally forced himself into the conversation. He moved to stretch out his body after speaking since it was incredible uncomfortable to sleep while still wearing heavy armor. "He doesn't want you to know too much, but he's helping us. I think he wants to wake up and tell us himself." Looking to the Sergeant, Kaidan finally gave an exasperated sigh.

"You don't know that, Kyo. Freeing him from his stasis might have him trying to kill us all. He could be another Kai Leng and I…"

"Who the _hell_ is Kai Leng?" Kaidan seemed to forget for just a second that he was actually talking to someone he just met. It would have been refreshing if he didn't have to stop to constantly explain himself.

"He's was a bastard of a Cerberus Agent that killed a lot of good people before Shepard put him down. Miranda…" There was a pause before Kaidan had an idea. "Joker, try to patch us through to Miranda Lawson. As ex-Cerberus, she owes us a few favors."

"Miranda, Major? What's she got to do with anything?" Joker asked over the intercom. His voice indicated his usual confusion mixed in with minor skepticism.

"She may be able to tell us more on this dead body we've got back here."

"Sure thing, but you might want to ask Liara too. She's got this whole Shadow Broker thing down, right? We're on approach to Ilium now. ETA ten minutes."

"Roger that. Kyo, grab your friend there and come with me." After an exasperated groan, Kyo eyed the body.

"Alright Shiro, time to go. Let's get you dressed first. I know Ilium is pretty shady, but you gotta put on some pants at least." The Doctor only giggled, deciding to help Kyo dress the mostly nude young man who was only being covered by a thin white sheet as Kaidan turned to leave.

"It looks good on you, by the way. Shepard's old coat", Karin said to Kaidan before she turned to take her leave back into her private room. He paused at the acknowledgement, but didn't to look in her direction as he spoke.

"I plan on giving it back to him when I see him again."

"Be sure to take care of it then. It may have a few holes, but he always refused to get a new one."

"Will do, Karin." The automatic doors opened and closed as the Kaidan left the room to head towards the docking bay. There was hardly a need to go fully armored into the city and attract unwanted attention, even though Kyo refused to change into the basic uniform himself. On his back, Shiro was also in a medium armored suit with his face and impossibly long hair covered with a helmet that made him look like another passed out solider for the Alliance.

"Docking at Ilium now, Major. Liara will meet you at her new office. Updating nav points."

"Roger that, Joker." As the cabin pressurized and doors unlocked, Kaidan tapped away at this omni-tool. He hadn't spoken with Liara in quite some time, not after their failed attempts to recover Shepard's body from both the Citadel and London. They were both extremely stressed out back then, caring deeply about Shepard while being rather jealous of one another. He knew that she had always found Shepard attractive and that her love for the Commander was never strictly platonic. Kaidan knew this ever since they rescued her for the first time and it was only confirmed again after the second. Kyo remained his ever neutral self and was seemingly unimpressed by Ilium despite its massive rebuilding since the Reaper attack. A lot of credits ran through Ilium's blood, even more so after it was nearly destroyed.


	7. Dr Liara T'Soni

"I see this place hasn't changed much", Kyo spoke in passing while the three of them walked through the main thoroughfare.

"So, you've been here before?" Kaidan asked, assuming that the Sergeant was even speaking to him in the first place and not to Shiro. Kyo looked to the Major before nodding briefly while keeping a respectable distance in their stroll.

"Sure, but not since the Reapers."

"You don't look like the stockbroker type to me. I'm impressed that…"

"I did a few concerts here", Kyo promptly corrected which caused Kaidan get the feeling that bringing up that sort of thing probably a bad idea. Nodding in response, he instead focused on walking around the large shopping mall without not to get lost or too distracted. According to the map, they had to take a shuttle over to the Business District in order to make it to a small cluster of towers that were in the process of being rebuilt. While it seemed that the Reapers may have been the ones who destroyed them, the local gossip suggested they were actually taken out in some sort of terrorist attack. Walking into the building prompted soothing office music that was followed by a gentle smile from a lavender Asari receptionist.

"Major Alenko…and company, I presume?" she asked, standing up from her seat behind a glass desk. Giving a nod, Kaidan moved to stand in front of the desk with his hands tucked away in his jacket's pockets.

"Yes, I have an appointment with Doctor T'soni."

"She's expecting you and I'll just make a few guests codes for the elevator for your…friends? Alright, please take the open elevator to your left." The Receptionist pointed to the glass open doors off to her side.

"Thank you", Kaidan nodded politely after removing his hands from the pockets as he headed towards the opening. "Come on, Sergeant. Double time." Kyo also gave a nod to the Receptionist knowing just how damn weird he looked carrying Shiro around like this. Fortunately, this elevator was at least large enough for the three humans, unlike the one on the Jupiter moon base. The music from the hallway was also louder here which triggered a soft hum-along from Kyo that continued until they reached the top. Kaidan no longer seemed to really mind the random singing, mostly because his thoughts were elsewhere. He also really did _not_ want to see his old friend. A ding echoed off the metal walls as the doors slid open.

"Tell that louse that if he thinks the Reapers were dangerous, try hiding my money from me again. I'll do worse than bankrupt that fool." Liara hung up with a sigh before rubbing her forehead. Her eyes then looked up and she stood from her desk as she forced a smile. It seemed that the uneasy tension between Kaidan and herself was extremely mutual. "Hello again, Major. It's good to see you after all this time."

"Likewise, Liara." Even a complete stranger could feel the weight between the two.

"When you contacted me, I was surprised. I didn't expect to hear from you…after that." Liara remained standing at her desk as Kaidan walked up with Kyo and Shiro close behind, although his abrupt stop nearly a foot away from here made the other two males run into his back.

"I need resources and you're the best at information that no one else can seem to get their hands on. This is a strictly professional call." Kaidan's hand went back into their pockets as he was trying his best to keep a both physical and emotional distance.

"Yes, of course Major and if it's for Shepard, then I…well. I suppose we'll all do some crazy things. Is this the Cerberus Agent and and is he one too?" By he, Liara meant Kyo, who only shook his head.

"I'm with the Alliance, mam. Just the pack mule in most cases and watchdog of my friend here."

"Could you lay him down on the sofa for me and remove the helmet. Let me see if I can get some older information." The Sergeant gave a nod before tossing the dead weight onto the luxurious white and gold office couch. He then took great care with making sure that Shiro would be comfortable under normal circumstances before removing the helmet and placing it onto the floor. Once it was off, Kyo brushed away the silky-straight, overgrown white bangs and pulled the long ponytail off to the side Liara watched with great interest, taking mental notes of Shiro's appearance. There were minor facial scars on the young man's lips, reminiscent of a pair of fangs; one on either corner of his mouth. Besides that, there wasn't any damage done that was noticeable. "Are there scars on the rest of his body?" she asked, holding up her omni-tooled arm as she attempted to make a few scans.

"Quite a few with the implants that trace down his spine. Implants in the palms of his hands and on his skull, but they're covered by hair" Kyo answered since he had seen them quite a few times already.

"Much like Jack's or Kai Leng?" Liara posed the question to Kaidan, who only gave a nod and crossed his arms while standing next to her, but it was still a good distance away. "I see and you found him in a Cerberus base on Mars?"

"Yes", Kyo nodded. "We got a SOS signal from the base. The mission wiped out my team with traps and hazards. There were rigged doors that exploded and some droids were still on alert. I was the only one that made it there alive." There was a pause as Kyo looked towards Shiro. "He saved me."

"Saved you? But he's in a coma." Liara looked up as her head cocked in confusion.

"He seems to be aware and is able to interface directly with electronics. Apparently, Kyo believes that he activated the emergency systems when he was rescued and uploaded a ton of Cerberus data to the Alliance. Stuff about me, Shepard, and even you, Liara." Kaidan looked to the surprised Asari as he continued to speak. "Whatever Cerberus had in their databanks, but it's still being decrypted."

"I see. That _is_ disturbing, but I still can't seem to get a reading on…" Soon, Liara's arm lit up in a frenzy as her tool spoke to her.

"_Scanning. Scanning. Subject found. Doctor Liara T'soni. Access granted."_

"What in the…?" Liara's omni-tool began to flash as several images and files downloaded directly to her. She stared in disbelief, at first, looking to Shiro before back at her screen. She saw images and data files for the Crucible, as well as a few others that she seemed to recognize. There was a medical tank, similar to the one Shiro was found in, along with a few formulas and equations. There were also a number of dates and years pieces together with bits of information on the Protheans. The data stream finally stopped, causing the screen to flicker away.

"By the Goddess, that was…"

Kyo just sighed, running a hand through his black tuffed hair.

"Yeah, he does that."


	8. Hunter

It was now Liara's turn to be amazed by the sudden storm of information that flooded her omni-tool while both Kyo and Kaidan seemed used to the display. With a bewildered look upon her face, she stared over at the two men before realizing how foolish her gapping mouth actually looked. Furrowing the drawn-on eyebrows, the woman finally began to concentrate on accessing the information that she had been given, but became flustered when her hacking skills only allowed her to access the less encrypted files. The images that she did manage to pull up at least lowered Kaidan's defenses, who then leaned over to get a closer look. "Is that…what I think it is?" he asked as an index finger pointed at the digital screen. Kyo was interested as well, moving over to look. The Sergeant's face then expressed a look of remembrance.

"That's the tube I found Shiro in", he stated as his own finger to pointed out certain features. "All those wires and tubes were everywhere. It looked a little different though and had fluid in it, but yeah. That's it."

"Are you sure? I mean, are you positive?" the Major asked. Kyo gave a stern nod causing Kaidan to be weary.

"What is it, Kaidan? What's wrong?" Even Liara seemed to be concerned with the expression on his face.

"You don't remember? Well, I guess you weren't down there", Kaidan began as he ran his fingers through the front of his already pushed back hair. "Remember when Shepard went down with that Geth, Legion, to help him out? Legion put him in a tube like that to interface directly with the Geth Consensus. I think that's the exact same kind of pod that Shepard went into." Pointing at the screen, Liara's expression also changed.

"That's right…", Liara spoke as she tried to remember the finer details. "The Geth improved on the Cerberus Project: Overload for direct neural interface with virtual intelligence. I wasn't with Shepard when he freed that man from the original project, but his descriptions were…gruesome." Tapping at her screen, it turned off quickly. "It's possible that they had more than one test going on. Perhaps this one was done afterwards…or before. That at least explains the interfacing with our omni-tools and being able to control the systems at the base on Mars." She paused then to look at the sleeping man on her sofa. "I would hate to jump to conclusions about this test subject, but Shepard said the one he encountered was driven insane." Kaidan considered the option while looking to Shiro as well.

"But Shepard came out fine from one with the Geth."

"True enough, but I'm more concerned about this formula." Liara then tapped the screen on again in order to pull up a rather detailed plan that was loaded with several lines of equation codes. Kaidan looked over it, but wasn't really sure what it meant. He was neither a scientist nor mathematician, after all.

"Hm, Doctor Chakwas said that he's in the Collector's paralysis stasis field. Do you think this is what Cerberus used?" Liara scrolled through the screen with a shrug.

"It's possible, but I'm not a scientist. However, these are very simplified plans…and I…"

"And?"

"And I have one of those tubes in my basement." Kaidan stood silent for the moment that he was in shock.

"You have what in your what now?" Cracking a knowing smile, Liara moved back to her desk to sit down in her office chair. After interlacing her fingers, she used her hands as a chin rest before speaking again.

"I managed to salvage quite a bit of Geth technology for research purposes and those willing to pay a marketable price", she said with a slight bragging tone to her voice. "With these plans, I could synthesize the formula and inject it into the machine."

"And that would wake him up?" Kyo's question was filled with interest. He seemed happy about it, even borderline excited. "Hear that Shiro? We're gonna wake you up." However, Kaidan all but groaned.

"We don't know if that's safe yet, besides I can't ask Dr. T'soni for that kind of help." Kyo then shot a prompt '_what the fuck?'_ look towards him, however Liara spoke up in defense before the young Singer even managed to get a word out.

"If it's for Shepard, we should at least try it Kaidan. I'll even waive my fees."

"I agree with the Asari. We should at least try, _Kaidan_", Kyo's voice came out both gruff and annoyed, which got a nasty glare from the older man.

"Her name is Dr. Liara T'soni…and that's _Major Alenko_ to you, _boy._ " As Kyo and Kaidan stared each other down, Liara gave a small laugh.

"Please, Liara is fine and it appears you've been outvoted, _Major_." She made sure to add that extra tease to her voice when calling out his rank.

"Outvoted? This isn't a democracy!" the Biotic exclaimed, clearly flustered from being teamed up against. "As curious as I am, I still don't quite trust this _Shiro_ person. He's a Cerberus Agent and do you even remember what The Illusive Man was doing to his troops in the end? They were practically Husks themselves." Standing up, the Asari Doctor walked up to the Major to place a white-gloved hand upon and caressed the slightly stubbled face. There was that tension again as he stiffened up, but kept his gaze on her large blue eyes.

"Please, Kaidan, if this can help us find Shepard…" His hazel eyes looked away then as the pair of dark bushy eyebrows slowly lowered themselves in conflict. The Major's hand carefully came up to gently run his fingers over Liara's touch before pushing it away entirely.

"Fine." After another forced smile, Liara then nodded as she took as step back.

"Come, we'll use my private elevator. It's over here." Watching her back, Kaidan eventually followed to stand next to the Doctor just behind the large desk. Kyo stood as a bystander, watching the awkward pair shuffle to keep their distance from one another in such a small space before gathering up Shiro in order to carry him over. Once everyone was in place, Liara then reached under the desk to hit a secluded button that began the descent to the lower levels by using a built-in platform. The drop was fast and surprisingly deep. The hole above them closed over which activated lights along the tunnel's walls. The speed of the drop slowed down right before reaching the bottom, where automatic lights activated all around. They were now in some sort of cave-like basement with crates everywhere that were marked with various hazard symbols and warnings. "Follow me."

The humans looked at each other before turning to the Asari. Along the walls were lines of mechs and various pieces of Reaper tech. What caught Kyo's eyes was the line of Geth Primes that were stationed up like giant red dominos. "Creepy. Good thing you can't see this place, Shiro", he whispered technically to himself.

"Are you sure this stuff is safe, Liara? I mean, Reaper tech is still Reaper tech…" Kaidan not only sounded weary, but he also posed his question in a suspicious manner.

"There are shields in place based on Dr. Bryson's improvements. They have been inert since Shepard activated the Crucible. Ah, here we are." Liara stopped to turn on a switch with activated the human size tank. It lit up brightly, showing off just how many wires and tubes were connected to this thing. With it finally visible, Kaidan then realized that it wasn't the same as the type as from the Geth base.

"This…isn't what I saw", he said, both equally relieved and disappointed.

"But it's what Shiro was in. I'd remember that thing anywhere", Kyo stated afterward. Liara took a moment to activate her omni-tool and tapped away at it.

"I see", she mumbled as she typed. "So, I was wrong then? This is Cerberus tech after all?" Kyo gave a nod to her, carefully walking up to it. With a hiss of the release of cold pressure, the front panel opened up for him.

"Alright Shiro, here goes nothing." Everyone but him took several steps away from the tube as Shiro was fitted inside. When Kyo also took a step back, the panel closed itself and began to fill up with a clear-green liquid. Liara stood fascinated for a moment before coming to her senses and begin to type away at the omni-tool once again. She continued to replace the formula, which caused a few different chemicals to flow inside from the connecting tubes and change the color of the liquid to an almost blood red. Meanwhile, Kaidan stood back and watched, but eventually turned away while shaking his head to how much of a bad idea this was. As he wandered off, his own omni-tool began to beep with an incoming message.

"Kaidan here", he answered as he kept his voice low.

"Major? It's Joker. Man, getting a signal to you has been rough. Where the heck are ya?"

"I'm underground with a lot of tech here. What's up?"

"Yeah, well you know how you told me to get a hold of Miranda?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I told her about our mysterious body and she seemed freaked out. She wanted me to warn you not to wake the guy up and she was headed to your location." The Major looked to the filling tube now.

"…Did she say why?"

"No, something about a _hunter_? I don't know. She was flippin' out with that funny accent of hers."

"There that should do it." Liara's voice interrupted Kaidan's call which caused the Major to look over.

"Oh no." Pulling out his side arm, he held the pistol steadily towards the tank.

"Step away from him, Kyo. He's dangerous!" The Sergeant looked over at the armed Spectre, raising an eyebrow.

"What the hell are you doing?" The glass door opened and released a flood of chemicals that rushed over Kyo's armored feet and once again, Shiro's body started to fall out. Ignoring his orders, the Sergeant instead hurried over to catch the young unconscious man just like before. So far, there wasn't any sign of change which caused him to shake the body, trying to coax a revival.

"I said step aw—", but Kaidan's voice was interrupted by the sound of an explosion above them which caused the entire cavern to shake. Liara's arm suddenly lit up with multiple alerts. It wasn't quite an attack, but looking in the distance, she soon narrowed her eyes towards the glowing biotic figure coming towards them.

"You could have knocked, Miranda." Stepping into the light, the curvy ex-Cerberus agent walked forward as her heels clicked lightly against the stone floor. Her weapon was also drawn, pointed directly at Shiro and, indirectly, also at Kyo. This time, the Sergeant drew his own pistol as well. It was an interesting stand-off as Kaidan had turned on Miranda, Miranda on Shiro and Kyo, and Kyo on both his Superior and the ex-Agent. The only one who wasn't holding a gun was an irritated Asari, who was upset about the break-in.

"Step away from that creature, boy. You don't know who you're dealing with." Miranda seemed to ignore Kaidan entirely as her fiery gaze glared at the still passed out, white-haired male under Kyo's arm.

"Shove it up your ass, lady", was Kyo's immediate response to her demands.

"Stand down, Miranda. I can handle this." Miranda then turned on Kaidan.

"Handle this? You have NO idea who that is, Major. We call him _Hunter_ for a reason, he…" The brown pair of eyelids began to flutter for a second; a slight groan came from Shiro's direction as they opened to reveal the pair of bright emerald eyes. The pile of wet white hair then turned to look at Kyo before looking around the room. Kyo dropped his guard in order to help the waking man stand and moved quickly to catch him when Shiro stumbled with his still numb body. "Oh God, it's too late!"


	9. Shiro

Miranda's biotic glow intensified as she revved her right arm back as a large, pulsating glow began to manifest in her palm. She then grunted as the sphere was tossed with all of her might directly at the pair in front of her. Pushing Shiro aside, Kyo dropped to a knee as to allow for his large, orange digital shield to hit the ground in an attempt to block the attack. "Oh no you don't, it won't be that easy!" Miranda's accent was heavy when frustrated and she moved her arm so that she could control the orb's direction. Instead of going forward, it now curved to come in at an angle. It was in slow motion for Kyo, who wasn't fast enough in shifting his weight around and redeploying the barrier. Instead, he could only watch as he wasn't fast to block the biotic attack that moved at rapid speed in Shiro's direction.

The dark eyes turned to look at a defenselessly at Shiro's body, which was going to end up taking the full blunt trauma of the unprovoked attack. Looking up, Shiro's own green eyes reflected brightly at the oncoming glowing hue of the biotic flare as it rocketed towards him. Strangely enough, they didn't seem frightened at all. Watching his face, Kyo saw the white eyebrows furrow in annoyance instead as the pupils slightly dilated in the bright light. Slowing putting an arm up, a gloved open palm caught the orb. Naturally, the impact caused it to explode; nearly knocking Kyo over and disrupted the shield he was trying to bring around. The blast of light was brief before there seemed to be lines of light coming from Shiro's hand.

Miranda's best attack was being absorbed right before her eyes.

Blue swirls surrounded his body before steadying themselves into a perfect biotic aura. Tightening the fist that caught the blast, the green eyes then redirected their gaze onto the woman who had bothered them with this mess in the first place. Smirking, the mysterious silent man then hurled the blast back; however, it was multiplied by several times in both speed and power. If Miranda had sent over a cannon ball for her biotic attack, Shiro just retaliated with the power equal to an AA gun. There was zero time to dodge and the former Cerberus Agent had to shield herself the best she could. Screaming as her powers waned, Miranda's body was soon hurled against the stone wall with such an impacted that cracked its surface.

Kaidan, Liara and Kyo remained stunned in silence however, Kyo was close enough to notice that the attack had taken its toll on Shiro's already frail condition. The young man was panting, leaning over from exhaustion before closing his eyes once again to lose consciousness. The Sergeant scrambled to catch him before his fall and looked to Kaidan with concern. The Major, who had never seen such power before, then moved in to check on Miranda. She was out cold, but alive. After lifting her up, he turned to the group. "Let's get back to the ship and sort this out."

Liara nodded in agreement, following as Kyo gathered up his yet again unresponsive friend. It was on the table in the med bay where Shiro was being examined by Dr. Chakwas. She was taking scans that were no longer being blocked, but still didn't quite know what to make of the readings. Sitting in a pulled up chair close to the table was Kyo, who was under heavy watch by both Liara and Kaidan. Miranda lay on the opposite bed, stirring around in pain as she regained awareness. "He's waking up, Major", the Doctor spoke before moving away from the body as Shiro's eyes squinted tightly shut before blinking open. He looked to his left, relieved to see Kyo as he managed to sit up while holding his head. He then looked to Kaidan, then Liara, finally at Miranda to which he sighed in disappointment. Over him, Kaidan moved to loom closer while keeping his arms crossed and his hazel eyes narrowly fixated.

"Who are you?" asked the Major. The question was simple enough and was on everyone's mind, including Kyo's. Shiro only looked around the room again as he tried to figure out a way to answer it.

"I…" He paused, having to cough several times to clear the unused throat. He then looked to Kyo before back at Kaidan. "They called me Hunter in Cerberus, but I prefer Shiro. That's what Kyo has been calling me, but that doesn't matter. Who I am isn't of any importance right now." The accent was clearly from Europe on Earth, around England from Kaidan's guess. It had a clear and proper tone with enough deepness to be from a young quiet man in his early 20's. However, the answer wasn't at all what Kaidan was looking for.

"Fine, then _what_ are you? Miranda ID'ed you as Ex-Cerberus and the lab we found you in…"

"That doesn't matter either. You want to know if I can help you find Shepard and the answer is yes."

"Straight to the punch, huh?" Kaidan uncrossed his arms and leaned over. "If you're toying with me, I'll toss you out the airlock first chance I get. Tell me where Shepard is."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know, exactly. I just know he's alive and I can help you find him." Stirring from her bed, Miranda sat up.

"Don't…Don't trust him", she muttered as she held onto her side in obvious pain. "He wants to kill Shepard. He was…He was used for Project Lazarus." Looking over, Shiro shot another nasty glare at the injured woman.

"Is that true, Shiro? You want to kill Shepard?" Kaidan asked, but was looked at as Shiro then shook his head.

"No, I want to save him."

"So, she's lying then?"

"Misinformed."

"On?" Sighing, the white haired male realized that short answers weren't going to stop Kaidan's insistent line of questioning. Moving to stand, Shiro gratefully used Kyo as a crutch. Despite only knowing each other for all of five minutes, they already seemed to have bonded deeply and trusted one another. It was confusing to watch as Kyo doted over his relatively new friend as Shiro's guard dropped from deathly stares to a warm sense of acknowledgement and thankful smiles. Once on his own two feet, the ex-Hunter then looked at Kaidan.

"Miranda only knows what the Illusive Man told her and what the databanks she was allowed to see said." A hand then moved to brushed back the long strands of overgrown sliver hair from the dark-skinned face. "It's true that I was the prototype for Project Lazarus. They used my implants as the basis in bringing Shepard back to life. My DNA runs through his veins just enough for the implants that are tailored to my physiology to work but…"

"But?" Kaidan asked while trying to both believe what he was being told as well as process all the new information. Shiro took a moment to gather his thoughts as he looked off to the side before speaking again.

"But I wasn't forced or captured to do it", he finally spoke while closing his eyes. "I volunteered." Kaidan's eyes widened in disbelief as did Liara's. In fact, the only one who didn't seem to be surprised was the Sergeant.

"Why…Why would you do that?" the Major asked, taking a step forward to get a better look at the face which stood nearly as the same height as his own, making Kyo the shortest human male of the group. It took Shiro an even longer moment than before to answer the question.

"The Collectors needed to be stopped and only Shepard could do that. Besides…I…" There was a pause as he looked away for a moment, seemingly lost in thought before he turned the green orbs back to Kaidan. "The Reapers needed to be stopped. That's all I needed and if you want him back, you'll have to help me. I can sense that he's alive but I can't get a fix on the signal. It's being blocked. I need something to boost my own in order to pinpoint his current location." Stepping in Liara, fustratedly began to become part of the conversation.

"And how to you propose we do that? We don't even know what _you _are!" Shiro then focused his gaze to the Asari.

"I need to go to Rannoch. I can interface with the Geth technology that's still on the planet. They have many hubs still there with working signal boosters."

"But the Geth are dead", Kyo said as he moved closer to his friend's side. "That EMP took out all Synthetics, Reapers and the rest."

"Doesn't mean that what they built doesn't still work. The Quarians can help us." Kaidan continued his strong lingering look of annoyance as his cold expression gave away his feelings of mistrust, however, the sigh that was allowed to escape from his lips was just enough for the black eyebrows to relax. What choice did he have at this point? So far, this entire runaround was to awake this potentially deadly ex-Cerberus agent with biotic powers that were off the charts, who also had the unexplained ability to both sense Shepard's location and interface directly with VI programs.

"Fine. Joker?"

"Yeah, Kaidan?"

"Set a course for Rannoch. Try to call Tali before we reach the destination."

"Aye, aye."

"As for you, Shiro…" Shiro looked away from Kyo just long enough to acknowledge that the Major was speaking to him. While Kaidan did have a lot to say to the young man, the physically biting of his bottom lip held in the wave of ranting that crowded his throat.

"Just…stick with Kyo. Sergeant, don't let him out of your sight."

"Sure thing", Kyo shrugged before giving a smile to his awakened new partner. "Come on, Shiro. I'll show you to our quarters." Turning back to the Singer, Shiro gave a nod and followed behind as he was led out surprisingly by his hand. The soft green eyes met the piercing hazel ones of the Major only briefly in passing before neither one of them could stand looking at each other anymore. This didn't take more than a few seconds for this to occur. It seemed that everyone had split off into pairs in some way or another. Vega and Cortez remained in the shuttle bay and armory, while the Quarian siblings found a familiar refuge in the engine room. Joker and his bottle of scotch settled in for the long trip toward the Quarian homeworld in the cockpit. The Major himself went to return to his room with Liara following closely behind, while Kyo and Shiro went to the crew quarters.

Inside the bunk-bedded room, Kyo tossed his helmet on a bottom mattress in the far back before starting the process of finally taking off the rest of his armor. It was rather unique looking with mechanically-jointed combat boots, all painted over in a candy shine shade of dark crimson. Underneath the chest piece, he wore a simple formfitting black t-shirt, which also proved that his body wasn't mostly made up of bulky material. While slim, he was surprisingly athletic for someone who wasn't in the military since before the invasion. A pair of guns were also put down; the first was a scope-modified N7 Paladin pistol which came standard with the N7 Paladin armor set and the second was a modified Reegar Carbine shotgun. Shiro seemed interested in the scoped pistol, not taking Kyo for a sharpshooter.

"We can head down the armory if you need to be outfitted for combat. I…uh…just sort of threw on you whatever was lying around. Beats you being naked", Kyo laughed a bit as he sat down to look upon Shiro as if he were inspecting him before taking the ex-Agent's hand to pull him closer. Shiro stumbled a bit as he walked forward, not really sure what to make of the situation.

"Ah, I don't wear heavy armor, so something light will work better", the dark man said as he looked upon the Sergeant.

"Maybe change is good? You don't really want people to recognize you, right? Though, you have a hard face to forget." While it sounded cruel, Shiro understood what Kyo meant. Pulling his fingers away, he then tugged at his overgrown long white ponytail.

"Not many people have seen my face since I joined Cerberus…and my hair was shorter. " Kyo just snickered, moving over as Shiro sat down.

"Well, you're not WITH Cerberus anymore. Those bastards…"

"Yes, I was linked to the mainframe when they turned as they did. I couldn't do much to stop it once the Reapers invaded. You really saved my life back there." Kyo found himself locked on the green eyes before he forced himself to look away and only offering a small shrug.

"It's not a big deal. Guess we should rest up for Rannoch and you should to. You're stumbling around like a baby deer still." Shiro just laughed at that, but gave a nod as Kyo stood up to move his things to the top bunk.

"Rest here. If you need me, I'll be, you know, up there." He then gave a playful point upward before scrambling up into the bed. Watching Shiro moved to lay down and stared up while on the top bunk, Kyo had rolled onto one of his side. In the Captain's quarters, Kaidan seemed to be trying to avoid Liara, who insisted on following him.

"What do you want, T'Soni?" He turned to stop her just outside of the Captain's quarter's door with his body blocking the entrance. Surprised, Liara gathered her words carefully.

"I…just want to speak in private. That's all, Kaidan. I assure you." She caught that she was being glared at, but the Major seemed too tired to fight her.

"Fine…" There was a grumble from the man in front of her as he shifted his body away from the entryway. As the door closed on its own behind them, she paused for a minute to watch Kaidan remove Shepard's old jacket and toss it to the sofa. A light snicker arose from her throat as she shook her head.

"You really have picked up his bad habits, haven't you?"

"And you're treading on thin ice with memories you shouldn't have. What do you want?" Looking hurt, Liara sighed.

"Not every memory I have of Shepard came from you, Kaidan." Another glare was shot in her direction.

"The fact is that you shouldn't have any of my memories, but we're not going to talk about that. Again, what do you want?" Liara sighed, looking away as she rubbed her chin in thought.

"I wanted to talk to you about our mysterious guest. I ran some readings that I thought you would like to know about; cross referenced some of my Broker files with the Cerberus agent, _Hunter_." Pulling up her omni-tool screen, Liara gave it a few taps. "It looks like it's a term that has been used for nearly twenty years now. My guess is that there have been several _Hunters_ based on the age of the one we have. Killed in action, maybe? Retired?"

"Yeah, we know how you _retire _from Cerberus", Kaidan said as he took a seat at the corner desk in the room to do some work on his own at the terminal there. He was intentional looking for something to occupy both his hands and eyes. Liara remained silent for a moment, taking noticed that she was being isolated before speaking again.

"Yes, it's possible that the new _Hunters_ would kill the former ones as they are an expert at tracking down Cerberus defectors. Scans show heavy modification on even a genetic level and it seems that his appearance may be due to his biotic nature. Perhaps it's a form of albinism; Loss of pigmentation in the hair and eyes, yet he retains his natural skin tone. We have similar variations in both Asari and humans, who are the most genetically diverse creatures we've encountered. As you know, Humans require heavy modification to even use biotic powers."

Kaidan looked up, annoyed at her dismissive tone about Human Biotics. "Yeah, I get that he's a freak, Liara. Is there anything useful?" The Asari then shook her head.

"Sadly, even my data is very incomplete. Hardly anyone who may have seen him is left alive. He's very close to a male version of the Phantoms we've encountered; possibly predating Kai Leng himself. Perhaps they were built to his standard."

"But the Phantoms were saw were zombies and Kai Leng was a loyal dick, so why leave his mind intact?"

"They only recently did that to their own agents, Kaidan. Otherwise, many were like Miranda; working independently on orders. Also, his ability to interface with machines is…"

"Creepy?"

"I was going to say fascinating."

"Creepy is a better way to put it and it's not like he's offering any sort of explanation. Forcing one out of him might hinder our search."

"Agreed…" The silence that overcame them was suffocating before Kaidan turned his back towards the woman.

"Well, I'm going to get some shut eye and you should do the same."

"…Right." Turning to leave, Liara gave a second chance glace behind herself to see if Kaidan would even hint at wanting her to stay, but to no surprise, he did not. Her hopeful expression faded and she moved out of the doors to leave the Major by himself. Kaidan let out a grateful sigh afterward, removing his own t-shirt and tossed it to the jacket. He really had started to pick up Shepard's messy habits it seemed as he was the one who was always picking up thrown about datapads, clothing and random empty bottles or food cartons. Resisting the urge to go hang up both the jacket and shirt, he decided to belly flop onto the mattress instead, curling himself around an armful of pillows and blankets to sleep.

The lights dimmed on their own after roughly 30 minute of non-activity from the room. Kaidan had passed out more quickly than usual, his face half buried into a white pillow as he lay on his side while still wearing his pants. Somewhere between lying down and a few hours later, his body subconsciously kicked off the militant boots and wrapped up like a burrito in the middle of the bed. He didn't even hear the doors opening and closing as someone else walked in. The messy dark hair shifted as a pair of invisible fingers ran through the locks and down an exposed sideburn. The cheek's skin was clean-shaven as usual, allowing for the stealthed fingers to easily glide down it. It was a warm feeling, causing Kaidan to shift in his sleep. The hand pulled away briefly, staying at a distance before hesitantly reaching down again.

Suddenly, Kaidan's arm shot up, grabbing the unseen wrist and threw the body to the bed. He held it there, pinning it down with both physical and biotic force. The hidden figure struggled at first but stopped as it seemed to stare up at Kaidan. "Who are you?" There was no answer and only a slight struggle again, but it couldn't break the hold.

"Answer me!"

"…Kaidan." The Major froze, recognizing the muffled voice right away. Seizing an opportunity, the figure broke an arm free and put a hand over Kaidan's face. There was a blinding white flash before Kaidan was able to see again. Still on the bed, he looked down to see Shepard underneath him, clear as day.

"…What the?"

"Can I get up now?" The Commander smirked as Kaidan moved to sit onto his knees while holding his head in disbelief.

"…Am I dreaming?"

"Probably."


	10. Intermission II (NSFW)

Probably wasn't the answer that Kaidan was looking for, but he had to assume that it was better than no answer at all. Still, he couldn't help but feel that dreams weren't supposed to be like this. He was pretty sure that he wasn't dreaming when he grabbed the invisible intruder that had walked into his room for starters. He was also fairly certain that he had felt the struggle of the person underneath his grasp, followed by a sharp headache shortly after a flash of blinding white light. Of course, the sensible side of the Major also knew that his L2 implant was the immediate cause of frequent headaches which even manifested in some rather lucid dreams when his body tried to cope with the pain. Was it possible that his new coping mechanism now including dreaming about Shepard?

"Kaidan?"

Finally snapping out of his rambling thoughts, Kaidan turned to take notice that Shepard's hand was waving in front of his face in an attempt to get his attention. Looking forward, he was also certain that this was definitely his lover. This manifestation had everything from that cocky smile which spread across dark pink lips to the small creases caused from aging around the corners of that very same mouth. Still, Kaidan was also certain that Shepard was still missing and just maybe, he wasn't dead this time. Again. Who the hell dies more than once anyway? Finally, the Biotic relaxed at the thought that only Shepard could die multiple times and still manage to survive. A small smile came across his face as the hazel eyes closed in acceptance that this was, in fact, a dream.

"Kaiiiiiidan?"

Shepard had moved his hand away to lean his face towards the other man's. Their noses touched, caressing just enough to be considered intimate. The Major moved to rub his nose against the other's tip to at least acknowledge that he was still paying attention. It was surprisingly soft and warm as he felt Shepard's breathe against the skin of his own upper lip. A hand came up to feel Shepard's cheek as its thumb brushed against the prickly skin. The Commander had always neglected shaving, claiming that he was too busy saving other people's asses to worry about it. The truth was that Shepard just liked the way it looked, but was too embarrassed to admit it.

The attention to razor stubble made Shepard smile a bit more openly while giving a knowing look that Kaidan had finally given in. He took the opportunity to steal a kiss that was supposed to be gentle and sweet, but his modified red and black eyes widened when Kaidan suddenly became very forceful. Pushing against Shepard's mouth, Kaidan forced his dream onto his back and pushed passed the slightly closed mouth and teeth with the full strength of tongue that wasn't about to take no for an answer. It was sloppy, hot, and messy, but Shepard seemed to easily comply without much struggling. Despite Shepard wearing a full set of heavy N7-branded armor while Kaidan was just in his underwear, the Major had easily pinned down the other just the same.

Of course, this didn't really matter either. Kaidan was an expert of removing the armor and his fingers went to quickly unhook and unlock various places around the sides of Shepard's upper body. After peeling away the chest piece, Shepard pulled off his own black t-shirt underneath it as Kaidan wiggled beneath his gaze undoing the thigh, leg and boot coverings. The sound of the heavy pieces of equipment made a bit of a ruckus when hitting the floor, but with the room all but sound-proof and the door was closed, so it wasn't as if anyone could hear them.

Underneath the armored legs was a pair of skintight black pants made of a thick and patterned material. Sitting on his knees, Kaidan was quick to grab them by the waistline so that he could pull them up and off, lifting Shepard's lower half in the process. The Commander had to laugh as his body was tossed around a bit, ending with Kaidan hovering over him once again while grinding their crotches together since their boxers were still on.

"When did you get so good at that?" Shepard had to ask, looking up at the Major's sexualized face as Kaidan concentrated on rubbing their covered erections together. Kaidan only shrugged with the tip of his tongue poking out from the corner of his mouth as he continued to grind.

"Practice?" The answer was as good as any as both of the men had their cheeks start to blush from both anticipation and arousal. To Shepard, Kaidan was being unusually rough and soon straddled Shepard's chest to get his manhood as close to the licked-over lips as possible. Pulling down the waistline to his own crotch, the meat that was confined inside then slipped out and promptly bopped Shepard's mouth and nose. Looking up, Shepard stuck out his tongue in a teasing manner, allowing for it to be poke and prodded by at Kaidan's urging.

Licking the thick vein that bulged from the underside, it got messy as saliva dripped out of Shepard's mouth and down from the recently moistened parts of Kaidan's cock. Moving his hips, the Biotic managed to angle and put the swollen knob into Shepard's mouth entirely while grabbing the back of the Commander's messy black hair. After getting a good grip, it was much easier now to push Shepard's head back and forth, forcing the length down and into the confides of the clenched throat. Shepard's eyes tightly closed, trying to focus on not gagging too badly or scrapping the sensitive skin with his front teeth too much, but it didn't really seem like Kaidan cared about that.

The stiff meat continued to be forced in and out the struggling mouth as Kaidan kept a tight grip on the hair while looking down in the most lustful manner he could manage. His eyes were glazed over in passion as light beads of sweat gave his muscled chest and abs an illumining shine. Finally, his eyes closed tightly as a free hand moved to grab the slobbered over dick to force it at a downward angle. In a few strokes, the tip to erupted in and around Shepard's open mouth. A few squirts even missed entirely getting on the side of Shepard's face and nearly in one of his eyes that he had to force closed just in time.

Both men were panting with Kaidan letting go of the black hair to hold onto the bed's headboard instead with his other hand still on his twitching dick. Though not at full mass, it was still notably aroused and jumping ever so often against the mess that it had just made. Shepard's tongue darted out a few times to lick up any splatters where he could, his own erection up and throbbing inside of his boxers. Kaidan continued to look down at his handy work finally moving to stand up. His underwear was only tugged down, so standing allowed for him to pull them off entirely. Shepard took the time to use the back of his palm to wipe his face off and licked away the excess. Once he was more presentable, he lifted his ass off the bed as he pulled his own boxers off entirely and kicked them to the side. After crawling back onto the bed, Kaidan moved to lie down onto his back with an arm extended out as he beckoned Shepard over. The other man complied, rolling over on top of the Major only to have the pair of strong arms wrap around his body. It was a desperate squeeze as Kaidan's face nuzzled on Shepard's neck, taking in his scent. Were dreams supposed to have smells? This one certainly did and it was the comforting aroma of leather, polish, and musk.

Shepard moved to kiss Kaidan, though it wasn't was sloppy or rough as he was kissed before. Still, the Commander did have that same spark of devious in his augmented eyes after the kiss reawakened his boyfriend's lower half. Bending his knees, Shepard moved to angle his rear end to line up with Kaidan's erect mass. While the Major was hesitant about it at first, he was then surprised at how easily he managed to slip inside without any prep work. Well, it was a dream right? Even pornos usually skipped the work of having to lube up the backdoor before going in for the kill.

Still, it was tight and forced Kaidan's face to tense up as the skin on his manhood was tugged and pinched. Shepard's expression changed as well, though it was obvious from all the moaning and hissing as they were both enjoying the sensations immensely. The Commande's body alternated between sitting up so that Kaidan could touch his chest and nipples to leaning over and kissing passionately as Kaidan instead used a hand to jerk Shepard's erection using his own pre-cum as a lubricant. Feeling the final push of Shepard's first orgasm and Kaidan's second, the dream then leaned down to whisper into the Biotic's ear.

"I love you."

It was enough to push Kaidan over the edge as his mind got fuzzy. That damn light was getting brighter and brighter, blinding him entirely just as he released…

Yelping, the Major's eyes flew open. He was under the blankets and obviously alone with an arm extended to his side tucked underneath of Shepard's usual pillow. He had gotten into the habit of sleeping like this, his arm often used by Shepard as a secondary source of comfort. Kaidan had been more than accommodating in picking a side of the bed and had found comfort in the fact that he got a chance to do so. Fingers flexed as the groggy Biotic awoke completely from his restless sleep. His head was throbbing in pain and his eyes were overly-sensitive to even the faintest bit of light come from the stars above him.

The hand that wasn't extended moved from under blanket to rub nearly closed eyelids before Kaidan noticed there was a tingle on the hand was hidden under the pillow. Curious, he slid it slowly from hiding to examine his fingertips carefully. They were restricted by something and upon closer examination; he tried to figure out what it was.

"Is this…string maybe?" Kaidan spoke softly out loud as he pulled the object in question from one hand to the other. It was a thin white piece of something that looked like a torn thread from perhaps his clothes or the bedding. It was wound up around, so he had to unravel it just to see how long it really was. Finally the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. It wasn't a piece of thread; it was a strand of long white hair.


	11. Rannoch

There was no describing the rage that filled Kaidan's chest or the tightness that clenched his heart. Pushing the covers aside, he started to search the rest of the bed for any evidence that many have proven that any part of his dream was real. He checked the inside of his own underwear for unusual moisture, but felt nothing outside of a thin layer of sweat from being underneath the blankets. There had to be something, anything, that would incriminate Shiro further in this other than a single strand of damn hair wrapped around his fingers. When nothing could be found, the Biotic gave a forceful pound the mattress that shook the entire metal bed.

The sheets were as clean as they've always been, without a spot of dripped sex juice to be seen. Under the pillows that had been recently tossed to the floor, there wasn't any sign of someone else being in the room either. Not a single extra set of footprints or a piece of clothing had left under the bed either. Standing up straight, Kaidan finally put a hand to his sore forehead and just rubbed. Was he officially losing his mind now? Still, going nuts didn't explain how this one lone strand ended up around his fingertips. He was fairly certain that he didn't go to sleep like that and was also pretty damn sure that he made no physical content with Shiro since they met. Kyo was entirely too protective of his stray pet to let anyone even near him and it wasn't as if Kaidan actually wanted to touch the thing.

"Fuck!"

The Major couldn't help but curse at himself, still unable to shake off the doubts that what he had dreamt about wasn't entirely a fantasy. His instincts were stronger and better than that. After getting dressed, he took off to head down a few levels of the ship to the crew area where Shiro and Kyo were supposedly resting as the Normandy made the trip to Rannoch. Down in one of the bunkrooms, Kyo had long since taken off his armor and was on the bottom bunk of one of the beds. There he slept comfortably while curled up around an armful of covers and a pillow in a white t-shirt and red knee-length boxer bottoms. While he did start off at the top bunk, it didn't take him long to join Shiro underneath it. What was once a peaceful sleep for the first time in a long time, according to the Sergeant's usual miserable state, was rudely interrupted by Kaidan giving his ass a swift kick.

"Argh!..What? What?!" Kyo rolled over in a half-asleep and thoroughly irritated state while rubbing his eyes to see the Major standing over his body. His messy black hair spiked in various directions as he managed to kick his legs over the bed in an attempt to stand at attention, but only managed to bang his head on the upper bedframe instead. "Ah! FUCK!"

"Where is he?" Kaidan was in obviously no mood for games with his hands shoved deep inside of the N7 hoodie's pockets.

"He?" Kyo looked to the bed assuming Kaidan meant Shiro, who was no longer curled up next to him. "I don't know…Think he said something about the bathroom?" Whether or not this was actually true, Kyo was having a hard time remembering between being woken up so suddenly and then promptly shattering his head against a metal beam afterwards. It sounded right though.

"You let him out of your sight? You were supposed to be watching him!" The Biotic then stormed off, leaving the barracks to head across the hall into the men's restroom. Just as he opened the door, Shiro, wearing nothing but a white bathrobe, came out while drying his long hair. He almost walked directly into Kaidan, but jumped away at the last second. "Showered? Convenient." Shiro only raised his eyebrows as if he didn't understand what Kaidan meant. Kyo came out of the room as well a few seconds later, still rubbing the sore spot on his head, before letting out a yawn as he scratched at his own belly underneath the shirt. Giving apparently no mind to his superior, Kyo only smiled to his new friend while still trying to work the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey Shiro. We were looking for you." After blinking, the former Cerberus Agent walked around the angry Biotic to inspect the welt on Kyo's forehead.

"I told you I needed to clean up…" After his curiosity was sated by poking at the bruise and watching Kyo hiss to his own amusement, he then turned to Kaidan. "Did you need something, Alenko?" Kaidan's eyes only narrowed.

"I need you to answer me honestly and I'm only going to ask this once. Did you go into my room tonight? For any reason at all?" Shiro remained quiet for a moment then shook his head. His wet bangs dripped a bit of water back and forth from it. After removing his hands from his pockets, Kaidan rubbed his face in a short nod before grabbing the robe by the collar. In a quick push, he pinned Shiro to the wall and started to glow with a surge of power. "You know, I'm not mad if you did, but if you're lying about not going in there, I'll find out and you and me…we're going to have a nice short talk about it. I would say that I don't trust you as far as I can throw you, but I could toss your ass pretty damn far." Shiro seemed defenseless, at first, but then cracked a smile.

"Do you honestly think you can?" The ex-Agent's body started to glow as well as a hand moved to grab one of Kaidan's arms. The Major instantly felt intense pressure followed by a burning sensation just before Kyo managed to jump in between the two of them to push them apart. Shiro's sinister aura instantly vanished and Kaidan took a step back.

"What the hell, man? What's wrong with you two? He said he didn't go in there so just drop it, alright?" Kaidan eyed the Sergeant about to say something but was cut off by Joker over the intercom.

"If you guys are done fighting like a couple of pissed off teenagers, we're about to close in on Rannoch. Tali's given us clearance to land." The three men looked up and gave a unified sigh.

"Roger that, Joker." Kaidan spoke to acknowledge the conversation as Kyo and Shiro went back to their room to get dressed. Shiro went inside first, ushered in by Kyo who then stopped to speak to the Major.

"You might want to tell the two Quarians downstairs that we've made it back to their homeworld. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear it." Having seemingly calmed down for the most part, Kaidan gave a nod and turned to head back to the elevator. Kyo went to go back inside the room, shutting down door as Shiro dropped the robe to sit down on the bed in the nude except for the towel he was using to try to get the rest of his hair dry with. The dark-skinned man still seemed pretty irate over Kaidan's accusations, though if he had anything to say about what just happened, he wasn't talking. To break the ice, Kyo moved to take the towel from him to help dry the seemingly endless amount of silky white hair, roughing it up pretty good and playfully. Shiro couldn't help but at least smile about it, especially after the towel was removed and his hair stuck out in various places.

"Thanks?" The one who was dried off wasn't really sure how to respond to being fluffed up so much, but at least it was dry. Digging into a pocket of the robe that was laid out on the bed, Shiro pulled out a small comb that he salvaged from the bathroom's storage closet to try to fix what had been done to it. Kyo supposed that Shiro had long hair for a while now and left him alone to fix himself up while he started to put his own heavy armor back on. There was quite a bit of noise as locks pressured, suctioning the pieces of metal to Kyo's body so it was nice and snug. Afterwards, Kyo played with his omni-tool a bit, recalibrating his shields, both of his body and the oversized one on his arm. He would look up every so often to peek at Shiro's body, thought it wasn't entirely out of attraction. The young Sergeant still wasn't used to seeing such scarring and exposed implants before. They reminded him of ceremonial piercings down Shiro's spine and other joints.

The dark skin also clashed with the bright white hair and illuminated green eyes, but it wasn't in such a bad way anymore, he thought. Seeing Shiro awake and moving around on his own, there was finesse to him. A sort of sense of both dignity and pride that maybe only he could see, which is why he felt so compelled to trust him. While he was curious about Shiro's past, he also had a sneaking suspicion that it also didn't matter.

"Kyo?"

Snapping out of it, the Paladin looked away embarrassed trying to act as if he was still calibrating his omni-tool. Shiro had long since caught the stares and found them to be quite amusing. "Can you check to see if any of the storage lockers has any light gear? I can't really function in the heavy suit you put me in." The pale hair had been pulled up into a tall, dangling ponytail whose tip caressed just underneath the back of Shiro's neck and he had found some underclothes to put on that sort of looked like a sleeveless catsuit. After giving a nod and minimizing his screen, Kyo went to search the footlockers along the back wall. A few had nothing in them, while others held a bit of trash. He finally checked a large storage locker and found a few sets of armor. Luckily, one of them was a lightweight set of thick material leggings and boots with a jacket-like upper body piece. The helmet was a simple pull over mask with protective goggles and a built-in breathing unit.

"How's this?" Kyo asked, holding the pieces up as he walked them over. It was a bit long, but that didn't matter. All these suits self-adjusted after calibrating with omni-tools anyway. Looking it over, Shiro checked for holes and tears before nodding and started to pull it on. It only took him a minute and he tucked the helmet away for when it was needed. The only weapons were assault rifles, one of which Shiro grabbed and popped the thermal clip for reloading.

"I usually don't use these…but it's better than nothing. Think Alenko will let me go shopping later?" It was sort of a joke and caused Kyo to sigh.

"Be happy that he lets you even use a gun. Come on, we better get down to the shuttle bay before we get left behind."

At the bottom of the ship, Kaidan waited by the shuttle door after changing out of his causal gear into his black and white armor set. While he stopped and considered going down there empty handed, his gut warned him to be prepared for any shit that Shiro was sure to pull once they got to the surface. His entire body was still tense from earlier and the throbbing headache brought on by stress against the L2 implant was not helping in the least bit. At first glance, he thought that the footsteps and shadows he saw coming around the corridor was the young Sergeant and his pet, but it turned out to be Liara instead. The facial expression the Major made, however, was still equally disappointing.

"What are you doing here?" It was the first thing that came out of Kaidan's mouth as Liara walked towards him while adjusting the right glove of her skin-tight body suit.

"What do you mean? I'm coming with you," she replied in the most obvious manner.

"Why?" The question made the Asari's nose flare and her eyes narrow.

"Because I'm part of this team, Kaidan. Besides, there may be something I can help with." There were more footsteps headed his way now as the two young Quarians started to make their way over and were being followed closely behind by both Shiro and Kyo. Kaidan shot another look to Liara, but refused to speak more about it. Instead, he climbed into the shuttle to situate himself in the pilot's seat. Liara climbed in behind him and soon Kyo was helping the Quarians and Shiro in before climbing aboard himself and securing the shuttle door.

"Ready, Major," the Sergeant said after taking a seat next to the white-haired Agent and locking in his seatbelt. Shiro idly looked at the wall as if it were a window to avoid the gazes being stared in his direction from both the Quarians and Liara. Even behind their tinted helmets, he could feel their eyes burning towards him. The shuttle launched without a hitch, shaking only briefly as Kaidan left the Normandy to start the descent down to Rannoch. Unlike a car, Kaidan didn't have a rear-view mirror to eye his passengers, so turned just enough to get Shiro's attention when he spoke up.

"What _exactly_ are we looking for down there? You said you need some sort of dead Geth technology?" The bright green eyes kept themselves locked onto the wall of the shuttle he sat in the rather cramped area. Letting out a sigh while nodding, he asked the question.

"I need to interact with one of their bases and use a signal booster to get a lock on Shepard's location. Just because the Geth are no longer online, that doesn't mean that their machines don't work anymore…" Leliah chimed in with a knowledgeable, but enthusiastic tone to her muffled voice.

"Yes, that is true. Not all of the Geth ran simple hardware processes. While they did control their own ships, they also created simpler programs to use for lesser tech like AA guns, scanners and other devices. We utilized what was left after they…went dark. It's very likely that there are several working signal towers still being used that we could modify to boost a tracking device frequency from." Shiro finally sat up straight then only to shake his head.

"No, I need a more direct interface. Kaidan, you were there when Shepard plugged himself into the Geth consensus, weren't you? Do you remember those pods that the Geth used as hubs?" Kaidan looked behind himself for just a moment before turning back to the pilot console in front. He tapped in a few adjustments as he nodded. The Ex-Agent moved stand up, grapping a hold of one of the overhead railings. "That's what I need. My…um…_abilities_ will allow me to interface with their system to get the boost I need, whether there are Geth programs in there or not. With any luck, I can get an exact location of Shepard. Maybe even speak with him directly." While the last part was mumbled, everyone heard it loud and clear. The shuttle shook heavy as it finally landed on the rocky open terrain of Rannoch and the shuttle door opened.

"Wait, are you saying that you might be able to TALK to Shepard?" Kaidan was now more interested than ever in the statement. Even Liara looked surprised as she unfastened her seatbelt and moved to stand on the desert LZ.

"Are you being serious? How will you be able to accomplish that?" Even the Quarians were impressed, but Kyo had placed himself between Shiro and everyone else.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. He said he might be able to…Let's just find the place we need to be first." The Sergeant then nudged his companion out of the shuttle first before hopping down himself. The two Quarians followed and finally Kaidan jumped out. Shiro was immediately regretting his vocal slip and pressed his lips together as he looked into the horizon of the gorgeous golden landscape. It had been years since he had been out on his own and the fresh air felt wonderful against the bare skin of his face. The wind blew sharply through the long white ponytail, causing it to flap like a flag in the wind as Kyo's short black hair only got wisped around a bit. Kaidan's brushed back style didn't seem to move at all, but he still seemed to enjoy the nice breeze.

In the distance, a small land vehicle drove up towards the landing party, parking itself just a few feet away. On the speeder was a male Quarian dressed in red armor with a black face shield. "You guys from the Alliance? Admiral Tali'Zorah informed us that you were coming with a few lost Quarians. Would have bought over the bigger transport if I knew there were so many of you…" Kaidan put on a smile with a raised palm to accept the apology.

"It's alright. Take the kids down to the compound and we'll head there on foot."

"Roger that. Let me upload the coordinates to you for the ruins you requested. They are actually behind you, but you can head to the village to the west if you need to stock up on any supplies first. Without the Geth controlling the old settlement, we just scavenged what we could, but there's still a lot of junk in there."

"I thought Quarians weren't allowed to call anything junk?" teased Liara politely. This caused the older male to laugh behind his helmet.

"It's not garbage, per say, just a work in progress. The caves are unstable, so blasting it out of the question. We've regulated a lot of tech already to rebuilding settlements. You're clear to use what you need though. It's the least we can do for Commander Shepard." The party's tools lit up as directions were uploaded. Leaving the group first, Shiro headed in the direction of the ruins opposed to the village, but stopped at the edge of the cliff to type away at his screen.

"This seems like a good start. I'll head there alone if don't want to come."

"I'm coming with you," Kyo's voice chimed in as he followed Shiro to the cliff's edge.

"I'm coming as well," added Liara, which left only Kaidan standing alone after the other Quarians had left. After taking in a deep breath, the Major had quickly found his resolved.

"We're all going," he said walking towards the group. "That's what we're here for." Shiro actually smiled at Kaidan, giving an approving nod.

"Let's take the shortcut down then," he laughed as he grabbed a very surprised young Singer's hand. Taking a step back, the younger looking Biotic did a running jump off the steep cliff and took an almost helpless passenger with him.

"Are you fucking nuts?!" screamed the Paladin, who was caught in a free-fall to certain doom, hand-in-hand with his own destroyer. Shiro only laughed as he began to glow blue as their bodies floated briefly before they hit the ground with a thud. Kyo did a rolling bounce once hitting the ground while the other gracefully landed. Looking up, Shiro then gave his best issued challenge face to Kaidan who returned with his best _Challenge Accepted_ look before backing up from the ledge. He then grabbed Liara's hand, who was only moments away from protesting herself and took the leap of faith.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" she screamed as they fell together. Liara then surrounded her own body in a glow to slow her fall as Kaidan did the same. They both landed near the younger members of their group. Liara leaned over to hold herself up by bracing her palms against her knees as the Major looked to the cliff, proud with himself that he actually did something so reckless. Shiro laughed heartedly, patting Kaidan on the back.

"I can see why Shepard would like you now. You're actually good at something." Kaidan suddenly shot a glare at Shiro for such a comment.

"What the hell would you know about Shepard?" he asked roughly, the blue glow in his hazel eyes intensified. The smile faded from Shiro's face as he looked away.

"It was a compliment. I was just being general…" Kyo looked to Shiro's face for a moment than back at Kaidan's. The little tension that broke seemed to be back again.

"Let's just…head to the building," Kyo suggested as he put a hand to his friend's shoulder to turn him away. Shiro only nodded, heading in the direction that the coordinates led him to as Kaidan and Liara followed behind. Liara then nudged Kaidan, but glared at him when looked at.

"What?" The Major was obviously annoyed and didn't feel like talking about it. The rest of the walk to the building was mostly in silence with little talking amongst the divided groups of two. There wasn't any real danger here outside of a few wild animals that had taken up territory since the Quarians avoid the unstable area and the Geth no longer patrolled the skies. Kyo managed to mildly impress with his pistol accuracy and unconventional use of his light shield as a melee weapon. Shiro had stuck to minor Biotic offensives as Kaidan only shielded himself with his powers, but made heavy use of his assault rifle. Liara did little fighting, only shooting some canine-like creature in the head out of annoyance that covered was blocking what seemed to be Quarian writing from before the Morning War. Finally, they arrived at the structure that was entirely way too ginormous for Kyo's taste with the door seemingly shutdown and locked.

"How the hell are we supposed to get inside of that thing?" he asked, looking to anyone else for an answer. Kaidan seemed to also be a bit taken back as well, attempted to use his omni-tool as a way to find entrance.

"Of course, there are no windows…" the Major finally mumbled, but pointed upwards. "There's a vent duct up there that we might be able to climb into."

"No need", Shiro stated who was already tapping away at his digital screen before taking a step towards the door. With an extended hand, he began to glow again slightly and the once dead door activated as the tool worked its hack. After various echoing mechanical sounds, the door shook the ground as it slid apart to open. Kyo came to Shiro's side, giving him a sideways smile that made the other man smile back. Kaidan watched, giving a glance to Liara with a head motion for her to follow before walking towards the entryway. The Asari took a moment to gather both her thoughts and courage before following close behind.


	12. The Fallen Major

"It's like a tomb," was the first thing that came out of Kaidan's mouth after passing through the corridor. There were piles of scrap off to the sides of the cleared walkway next to the abandoned camps from Quarian scavengers among the rubble. After cocking his assault rifle, the Major then clicked on its flashlight to illuminate the way for himself and Liara. Ahead of them, the light from Shiro's omni-tool made it at least visible enough for Kyo to see clearly as well while following the guided map.

"Goddess, this smell…," Liara stated as a hand moved to cover her mouth and nose as she made the universal face of being disgusted by the odor.

"There were a lot of varren on the way here. Maybe they have a nest somewhere?" Kyo suggested. Suddenly, everyone in the group stopped walking at the sound of a low growl that echoed off the stone and metal walls.

"Varren don't make _that_ noise...,"Shiro warned, but then turned his attention back to the map that flicked with a bright red dot upon his wrist. "We need to just keep walking straight into the next chamber. The tower controls should be in the center of this place."

"Yeah, that's if the Quarians didn't already strip it down for parts," Kaidan added with a negative tone to his voice. Shiro only shook his white hair in disagreement.

"No, look ahead," he pointed forward. "It doesn't look like the Quarians got this far into the base." He then turned to point at the rocky path behind them. "See, back there even the floor is stripped, but the front of us remains untouched."

"Now we have to wonder what stopped them from continuing," Liara sighed, not liking the looks of things. The group took a few more steps forward but stopped again as the caverns shook. Fortunately, it was only a few brief tremors that lead to light dust and debris to fall from the ceiling.

"Earthquakes, maybe? They said it was unstable here," Kaidan then suggested as he moved ahead to look at Shiro's map. "You think this place was built on a fault line?" Liara only shrugged in response as the group finally pressed onwards. The structure itself was enormous and hollow, even for being built over by the Geth. There were several markings on the walls to suggest that this place had been originally an ancient Quarian ruin before it was converted into a giant server and radio tower. The ominous smell also continued to grow, but it wasn't completely unbearable just yet. The next stop was due to another door, similar in design to most of the Geth technology that surrounded them. After minimizing the map screen, Shiro then moved stand in front of it like he did with main entryway. With an open palm pressed against the chrome, his omni-tool began to hack its way into the tight security matrix.

"This should just take a moment," he then said as he focused on reading the scrolling lines of code that had begun to appear. Kaidan nodded before turning around to keep an eye out. Kyo did the same as the ground rumbled again.

"Another quake?" the young Sergeant asked, but Kaidan looked startled.

"Not this time! Defensive positions! Protect the door!"

"The door? You mean Shiro, right? Oh, fuck off!" Kyo had dropped to a knee when Kaidan had called for it, manifesting the large, orange digital shield to protect the center. To his left was Kaidan, who found cover behind a metal pillar, while Liara was behind a small bounder with her Scorpion pistol exposed to the right. The Sergeant's cursing was directed at a large varren, who had rushed his shield only to be frozen upon and shattered from the impact of it being used as a weapon. For some reason, they were suddenly being attacked by several large hounds which had run from a hidden tunnel to their right and were dipping off the ledge to the left in a stampede. The few who had noticed the group at the door had then broke off from the pack to rush them.

Liara placed a Biotic field in front of Kyo to levitate the few more that turned to attack Kyo's shield. It was easy target practice for the Paladin, who knocked them back with ease. Unfortunately, one of the bodies was thrown a bit too far and landed in the dead center of the tail end of the stampede. Slowly, at least thirty or so hounds turned their attention to the party. "Uh. Opps," nervously laughed Kyo as he took out his pistol.

"Nice going there," sarcastically remarked Kaidan as he came out of cover. His body was lit up in blue as he glanced back at Shiro. The ex-Agent was entirely too focused on breaking the security that Kaidan wasn't even sure if he noticed the attack at all.

"Kaidan! Look out!" Liara exclaimed from her hiding spot. In that brief second, they had been nearly overrun, but a single varren in particularly had stampeded its way over to leap onto the Major. It was if time had slowed down as Kaidan prepared to toss the monster back into the darkness just before its head exploded in mid-leap. The body collapsed instead as several more shots were fired from an unseen upper balcony. Kyo shield-shattered the remaining hound before looking up towards the ceiling with his scoped handgun.

"The hell? Is that a human?" Kyo asked out loud as he viewed a male figure dressed in a dark red Alliance armor through the scope. The Sniper seemed to be looking back down through his own scope before lowering the compact sniper rifle from the eye lens of the helmet. Kyo did the same, losing sight of the figure as it walked down the catwalk to the left. "Fuck."

"What?" Kaidan asked, standing next to the Sergeant as he tried to peer through the darkness to get a glimpse, but saw nothing.

"It looked like some human guy. Possibly a merc, but I didn't see any markings on the armor." Liara tried to peer up as well, but all three turned when the lock on the large door behind them finally buzzed.

"Finally," sighed Shiro as he tapped away his omni-tool screen. "That took longer than expected."

"Um, did you not notice the _massive_ verran attack and possible merc Sniper that attacked us? Like, at all?" questioned the Major as he moved to stand close to the other Biotic with an intense gaze into the green eyes. The eyes under suspicion returned the look before shifting to peer at the pile of dead hounds.

"You're perfectly capable of saving yourself, Spectre Alenko," Shiro smiled deviously. "Unless you need to me rescue you every time there's something wrong?"

"Save me or finish me off?"

Shiro had to laugh at the question as he banged on the doors with a single, heavy fist slam charged with bluish-green Biotic energy so that they would start to open. It was also an obvious display of power. "I have nothing against you, Spectre Alenko. Why wouldn't I help you?" Kaidan continued to glare, but then turned towards the opening doorway instead. Inside was sterile metal room, clean and gleaming. The mild vacuum suction from the door opening also meant that this particular room hadn't been used or stepped into in quite some time. If nothing else, the lingering stench had also dissipated almost entirely from the party's noses. It was, however, pitch black inside with the exception of a few patterned blinking lights that climbed up the tower itself. It seemed that everyone had at least put aside their differences to gather at the controls now, watching Shiro tap away at the only active console.

"And…done."

As Shiro typed in the last line of code, the overhead lights began to turn on one circular row at a time around the room, starting from the bottom up. No longer in the dark, the team found themselves surrounded by hundreds, possible thousands of Geth ground units. Each row contained dozens of hollow Geth shells, no longer occupied by their software AI counterparts. Kaidan broke away from his team so that he could walk towards one of the units. Upon arrival, he stopped to stare the empty shell through its protective glass. He looked upon it with a solemn face as he spoke. "You know, in a way, I feel sorry for them. They were created, hunted, enslaved, backed into a corner, freed, helped fight a war, and then were wiped out so the rest of us could live."

Liara smiled, albeit sadly, in Kaidan's direction as she moved to stand next to him. "I'm surprised to hear you say that after what you've been through. You weren't as quick to trust Legion as Shepard was."

Kaidan shrugged, still looking closely at the model in front of him almost as if he expected it to spring to life at any moment. "Shepard opened my eyes to a lot of things," he said before turning his hazel eyes upon the Asari. "But it's not like you didn't already know that." Liara gave a hurt look in response as her face was stared upon before she looked at the inactive Geth herself.

"Yes, I suppose your…," but her words were cut off by another strong tremors. Behind her, Shiro had managed to active the control tower, but in doing so, it also began a chain reaction of other large power generators to be turned on as well. As one clicked on after another, the room only shook harder before the ground itself began to crack and fall apart, despite the metal flooring. The screeching made by the twisting and scratching metal beams only made it worse. Underneath his own legs, Kaidan watched what started off as a thin, jagged line suddenly become an increasingly larger gap. Without hesitation, he grabbed Liara and tossed her towards Shiro and Kyo. The Asari hit the ground on her side, hurting her arm noticeably from the impact. As she was quickly tended to by the other two members of the group, her eyes widened as Kaidan's body vanished down into the newly formed pit. However, he didn't go alone. Out of the shadows, the stealth shield broke from a human male dressed in red armor as the previously unnoticed follower jumped in after the fallen Major.

It was surprising to everyone, especially the Biotic himself, who was now dangling from the hand of the complete stranger who had just saved his life. The other red armored hand was hanging onto a ledge of a recently exposed cavern from the quake. Looking around, Kaidan could in fact see several tunnels that had been pulled apart by the tremors. It looked as if he was in the middle of what he would imagine a giant art farm to look like on the inside. Looking up, he finally spotted a compacted rifle attached to the man's back, which made it safe for him to assume that this was the same mysterious Sniper from before. Before he could say anything, Kaidan felt himself being pulled up to the ledge where he managed to grab on. Both men struggled to climb up, resting on their hands and knees afterward. Over the ledge from up top, Liara called down.

"Kaidan, are you alive?" The Major looked up and summarized in his mind that the depth which he had fallen was too far much for a quick Biotic teleport. Also, he didn't have the power to make the jump and take his rescuer along for the ride.

"Yeah, I'm fine! I found our mystery Sniper too!" He then looked down, smiling as he offered a hand out. "And he sort of saved my ass…," he mumbled politely. The Sniper looked to the hand, but quickly smacked it away. "Ow, hey! I was just trying to help!" Instead, the Sniper opted to stand up on his own and quickly dusted off the red armor that looked like it belonged to the Alliance. Both the helmet and body coverings looked like standard issue, but this helmet had a black tinted lens over the eyes. Still, the sniper rifle on his back sported a crudely painted on N7 logo. Kaidan had seen weapons like these before. These were the latest models that had been used in the war by the new branches of these so-called N7 recruits. It was the same bunch that Kyo belonged to. "Are you with the Alliance? N7 even? More importantly, what the _hell_ are you doing out here?"

The helmet turned to stare blankly at Kaidan before a static, almost robotic voice spoke from it. "I was minding my own damn business before having to save your ass." Kaidan's face cringed as he was forced to listen to the rough sounds that reminded him of his grandfather's old radios.

"Geesh, what's up with your audio simulators? Take off the damn helmet, at least." As Kaidan reached for the head covering, he found himself pushed away as the Sniper gave the Major a prompt shove.

"Deal with it. You should put on your headgear anyway. The toxins we're going to have to walk through to get you out of here will tear up your insides if you breathe them in too much."

Despite questioning these so-called toxins, Kaidan reached for his helmet and put it on anyway. "Toxins? What toxins?"

"Didn't you smell it up there? It's coming from these caves. Look." Moving just close enough to share his omni-tool map, the Sniper pulled up a screen. "Look, these tunnels run through the bottom like a maze, but they all stem from this middle tower. If we follow this route, we can exit through a heat exhaust grate that leads outside."

"I see…but how do you know that?"

The Sniper tapped the map away and headed past Kaidan towards the side of the opening in front of them. "It's how I got in. Now, let's go and keep quiet. There are…things in here…and you talk too damn much." Kaidan watched the other man enter the mouth of the cave, but lingered a moment to talk through his earpiece to Kyo.

"Sergeant? Come in."

"Yes, sir?"

"I don't really know who this guy is, but he says he's going to lead me out through the tunnels. Updating your map now…Got it?"

"Yep. We'll meet you outside at the exit point. Be on your guard, Kaidan. There's something about that merc that ain't right…"

Kaidan looked towards the Sniper trying to make a judgment on his own. "Ha, roger that. Alenko out." Ahead, the Sniper waited as a digital VI drone had been summoned up to be used as a make-shift flashlight that floated up over the Sniper's left shoulder. There he waited a few feet ahead until the Major jogged to meet him.

"Let's go," he then said softly, despite the static, and began to lead the way into the void.


	13. The Fallen Major Part 2

Kaidan walked slightly behind his new companion as he made good on the order he was given; which was to keep as silent as possible. The humidity in the lower levels of the Geth facility was extremely high as the steam that came from various smaller pipes and holes clouded their helmet visors every so often. It was also quite moist and sticky, which made Kaidan a bit grateful that he couldn't see what he was stepping in very clearly. The Sniper remained quiet as well as he led them both by the light of the small, white VI droid that floated above his left shoulder. Still, the Major was not quick to trust, no matter what sort of help was being offered. He soon attempted to break the ice, politely of course, as not to seem too invasive. "So, what merc group do you belong to? Blue Suns? You don't really seem like the Eclipse type."

Ducking under a few large hanging wires, the Sniper then held them up for Kaidan to walk under as well. "…My armor is red." It sounded like the most obvious answer in the world since the mercenary groups were usually color coded. The Biotic moved to duck under the dripping black metal loops that were courteously held out of the way then nodded with thanks.

"You're not a Krogan or a Vorcha under there, are you?" It was a teasing response, at best, with a nice bit of annoyance mixed in.

"I'm not a merc, alright? And you're doing really badly at that whole, '_No Talking_' thing."

"Hey, you said not to be loud, not, '_don't talk at all'_," Kaidan chuckled softly as he stepped over some sort of green gelatinous puddle. "Besides, how am I supposed to thank my rescuer if I don't even know who he is?" The Sniper just looked away as Kaidan then imagined that the gesture was, in fact, an eye roll.

"Do you really thing that if I was really a merc or a _Vorcha_, that I'd admit that a Spectre?" The Major's feet stopped in their tracks for the moment as his tone changed from its usual playfulness to something more monotone.

"So, you do know who I am." The Sniper turned around again to stare for a moment before looking back down the dark tunnel.

"Everyone knows who you are." After walking a few feet away from Kaidan, he suddenly stopped to duck behind a small barrier created from part of the tunnel being bent at an angle. After the rifle was removed from his back, it then unfolded on its own so that the scope could be used. "Shit. Hey, stop standing there like an idiot and come take a look at this." With a hand, he beckoned behind himself in Kaidan's direction. The Major sighed, but again ended up doing as he was told. Moving close into a tight snug next to the other man, he then stooped down to one knee. After leaning over, he was finally able to peer into the scope himself.

"Holy shit, what they hell are those things?" Through the lens was a small pack of what looked like giant pink maggots with circular rows of shark-like teeth. As a mob, they were devouring the remains of what looked like used to be a varren or two. As they ate, their tails then secreted steaming green ropes of feces that resembled what they had been stepping over, and even sometimes stepping in, since they had entered the tunnel. Pulling his face away from the gun scope, Kaidan glanced over at the Sniper for his question to be answered. His gaze was returned, but only briefly.

"Those are just the babies." Pulling the gun away from Kaidan, the Sniper then lined up the scope back to his own visor. With several silenced shots, there was only a small hiss from each larva before they died. "We need to move before the others smell the bodies. They don't get mad or anything, but they do smell the fresh meat. They'll be feeding here again soon in a frenzy." Standing up, he raised a hand to point towards the ceiling. There, just above their heads, was a grated duct vent. "Boost me up so I can pull that cover off. We can climb through there to another drop point to avoid more of those things." After looking up, Kaidan only smiled.

"Nah, I got it," he said as he began to glow blue while reaching out. His hand mimicked that of grabbing ahold of the grate. He then yanked it down, but was at least smart enough not to toss it. Instead, he made sure that it instead levitated down slowly to the ground with only a slight rattle as it was dropped. The Sniper watched, shaking his head as Kaidan then offered a boost with his hands, but was ignored again. Instead, the other man took a few steps back and made a running leap to grab the ledge with his hands. He then used his own strength in order to pull himself up in an impressive display of athleticism before crawling inside. The rifle was then lowered down to pull Kaidan up, but the Biotic instead disappeared briefly to reappear practically on top of his now startled new friend. "Told you, I got it."

"When did you…right. You can get off me now." The Sniper attempted to scoot back as Kaidan shifted his own weight. It was a tight squeeze as both men were forced to crawl on their hands and knees through the dirty water that was leaking out of this pipeline. Every so often, the Sniper would check the map and make sure he was going the right way at certain crossroads with the Major following closely behind to stay within the light of the drone.

"Hey, if I guess who you are, will you tell me if I'm right?" Once again, Kaidan couldn't remain quiet. This caused the Sniper to sigh as he slid down a level to another twist in the path. Kaidan followed, causing them to bump bodies yet again for at least the fifth time since they met. "Alright, so judging by your armor and personality, you're definitely not a typical Alliance solider. I'm also guessing by your little droid there that you have skill in engineering and hacking, but you know how to take care of yourself."

"So?"

"So, my guess is that when the war started, you were a freelance hacker who was offered immunity by the Alliance to join the war effort and after the war, you then went AWAL to do some scavenging of Geth tech here on Rannoch to make some easy money. How close am I?"

The Sniper then stopped to turn his head as best he could to look at Kaidan. "You call this _easy_?" After pulling up another grate that led to a short drop below, the Sniper then waited patiently for Kaidan to come down before answer anything else which he had been accused off. "First of all, stop staring at my ass." The response unnerved the Major, who took offense to the accusation of his own.

"Uh, I was crawling _behind_ you. I wasn't looking on purpose…"

"Secondly, you're wrong…but not far wrong. You really came up with all of that just looking at my gear? Huh. Well done, Spectre Alenko." The Sniper then pointed down the tunnel where the last bit of sunlight before nightfall was peeking through yet another grate. "That's our exit. We should hurry." There was a smirk and a sharp turn made as he started to walk in that direction. Kaidan stared a moment, standing still as he tried to figure out which parts he was wrong about. Unable to do so on his own, he instead opted to hurry over so that he wouldn't be left behind.

"What do you mean by 'wrong'? You mean all of it was wrong or just some parts?" The Sniper only chuckled, giving an innocent shrug. It didn't take long for them to reach the final grate. Both men grabbed the center and give it prompt tug, which popped the hinges rather easily. Once it was open, the Sniper crawled out first and pulled the Spectre out by the hand into the setting sunlight of Rannoch. Relieved, Kaidan removed his helmet to take a breath of fresh air. Even through his filters, the stenches of worm shit could still be smelled when they were still underground. Turning to face his hero, he suddenly noticed that there was an awkward distance and shuffling them.

"So, which part was I…," the Major started to ask, but was surprised when the Sniper had turned to walk the other direction. Jogging over, Kaidan placed a hand on the man's shoulder but was once again pulled away from.

"Look, I got you out, but don't act like we're friends. Your team should be coming in from the north, so start walking." As the sun set just a little more, the two men stood at a distance on the ledge of a golden, rocky cliff. Kaidan turned to look just for a moment before looking back to the Sniper.

"Yeah, alright. I get you." Nodding, he took a step back. "You did your job and now you're done. I was just trying to…"

"It wasn't a job, you were in the way," the Sniper pointed before slicing his hand through the air in the gesture that his part was over with. "That's all there is to it and…" The ground shook fiercely again and interrupted the conversation. As both men were rattled from it enough to try to maintain their balance, from the bottom of the ravine emerged a giant pink worm, armored with hardened scales of flesh and had countless rows of razor-shape teeth. It was similar in size and mass to that of a Thresher Maw, but more in the shape of an earthworm crossed with a centipede. More importantly, it was coming down to crush the two arguing humans underneath it. "Shit! Run! Run!" the Sniper cried out. Nodding, Kaidan began to run alongside the other male, tossing out Biotic attacks where he could. The Sniper managed to activate his omni-tool, transforming his simple light source droid into the attacking version that fired sparks and rockets where it could.

"How do we kill that thing?!" Kaidan yelled as he took cover with the Sniper behind a small rock formation.

"We don't. They get startled easily and go back underground." He then nodded up to a higher cliff where the rocks seemed to be looser. "I'll help you bring down those boulders. The noise will send it retreating. Trust me, I've done this before."

"Have you really?" It seemed a bit farfetched, even to what Kaidan had seen before.

"You calling me a liar?"

"Well, yeah." At least one of them laughed about that and it wasn't the Major.

"You got a better idea then?" But before he could answer, the Sniper then turned to start firing precision shots at the rocks. "Too late."

"Damnit!" Kaidan grunted as he came out of cover to do the same with several tosses of Biotic explosions. As predicted, the rocks came crashing down one after another, shattering the ground upon impact. The scream from the worm could be heard for miles around, but it did retreat back into its underground dwelling.

"I can't believe that actually worked…," sighed an amazed Spectre, who looked quite drained from using his powers so much. The Sniper stood there smugly, turning to look at how exhausted Kaidan had become. A hand reached out as if to comfort him, but the ground shock one last time as the worm could be felt tunneling underneath. Above, more loose rocks rumbled until a few began to landslide down towards them. Looking up, the Sniper saw how close they were.

"Kaidan! Look out!" The weakened Spectre was pushed out of the way just in time to see the other man buried underneath the rubble.


	14. Solaris Redford

Kaidan pushed himself to stand, scrambling over to the rubble as fast as he could. The rocks were heavy enough for him to have to use the last of his biotic abilities in order to just move off even just the top layer. "I'm coming buddy, just hang on!" In the distance, Kyo, Liara, and Shiro had been running towards the screeching noise that the giant sandworm had made just before retreating back into its hole. They too had felt the worm then dig underneath them when it retreated.

"Over here!" called out Kyo, who had been leading the pack up the rocky hill to the smoother terrain where Kaidan was hunched over and digging the best he could through the landslide pile with his black and white armored hands. As the team came around, Kaidan called to them as he continued to panic.

"The guy! The guy that saved me! He got buried!" he stammered as he picked up another larger one of the stones after several attempts in trying to do so. Grunting, he then gave it a light toss behind himself. It was afterwards did he manage to spot a bit of red armor peeking out from underneath the mound. Looking down, Kyo had also managed to see it as well.

"Sol…?"mumbled Shiro as he jogged his way up to the pair in front of him. "SOL!" He then yelled, getting in between the Major and the Sergeant. His slim body lit up blue at first, then turned into a shade of bright green as he used an untold amount of biotic energy to lift all of the remained boulders at once. While Kaidan wanted to question how the hell Shiro managed to do that, he instead pulled the battered body out from underneath. Shiro then tossed the rocks to their left, causing them to roll a good distance away after they hit the ground. Liara watched from a few feet behind as she too had never exactly seen that color emerge from a biotic before. The display was impressive, even by Asari standards. Once it was safe, Kaidan moved to roll the body onto its back and cradled the head as he continued to kneel down.

"Hey? Hey, buddy. Come on. Speak to me." There was no response. Shiro, who seemed about as worried as Kaidan was himself, then pushed the Major aside to take the cradled armored head into his own arms.

"Sol? Can you hear me? Sol? Sol!"

"Sol? Wait, you _know_ this guy?" At that moment, what Shiro was doing not only didn't make any damn sense, but also raise several red flags with the entire group. Everyone stared at the ex-Agent and waited for an answer.

"What? Of course I do...," the white-haired man said as he continued to try to shake the Sniper awake. It finally dawned on him that no one else seemed to understand why. "Wait? He didn't tell you?"

"Tell me _what_? I just found out he even had a name not two seconds ago!" Even though he was pissed off, Kaidan was busy scanning the red suit's vitals. There were multiple fractures in the chest and one rather nasty head wound. He was still alive though, surprisingly, but not for long if they didn't hurry. "We need to get that helmet off to stop the bleeding there. Move out of the way." But as he attempted to reach for the helmet, Shiro jerked away from Kaidan on reflex with his arms protectively holding the cradled head out of reach.

"Damnit, Shiro! I said move!" Kaidan yelled, not understanding the situation. The Sniper's protector then sighed, looking sadly down at the helmet before his arms unwound slowly. Carefully, Shiro began to remove the helmet on his own and slipped it off carefully. What Kaidan saw then made the Major himself stop breathing. Underneath the red and black armor was a pile of messy black hair stuck to a familiar face with a forming puddle of blood running down from the forehead. Reaching down, Kaidan brushed the hair aside only to feel a knot form in his stomach and his heart grow heavy.

"…Shepard?"

Kaidan feel to his knees as hot tears started to pour uncontrollably out of his eyes. "Shepard. Shepard!" he started to yell, shaking the body in another attempt to try to wake it up. It could have been all the movement that finally awoke the unconscious man just as easily as it could have been hearing his lover call out his name or the tears that had fallen upon his face. Whatever the reason, Shepard's eyes finally opened up only to squint in the light. As he attempted to sit up, Shiro quickly applied a dose of medi-gel to the head wound. After his red gloved hand came to cup his own face, Shepard then noticed that his helmet had been taken off. There was a moment of panic as he looked around for it before noticing Kaidan at first, but then shot a nasty glare to Shiro. In reply, Shiro then looked away sadly as if he had done something wrong.

"I'm sorry, Sol…He had the right to know." Shepard grunted, his voice no longer muffled by the modified audio from the helmet anymore.

"Damnit…I asked you to do one thing…" Pushing himself up, he actually managed to stand, although he did start wobble a bit. Kaidan jumped up quickly to help, but was still shaken by the turn of events. Liara was also surprised, her face streaked with tears as she covered her mouth. In fact, the only one not visibly unhinged in some way was Kyo, who thought it best to just stay out of it.

"Shepard…is it…really you?" Kaidan asked, sticking as close as possible. The hazel eyes once again met with the black orbs and their decorative red swirls after so long; however the Major's question went unanswered. Instead, Shepard turned away to continue glaring at Shiro.

"You should have told them. I never wanted you to do this, Sol!" Shiro yelled, breaking the heartfelt reunion. Shepard pulled away from Kaidan, trying his best to ignore the other Spectre as he fired back at the ex-Cerberus Agent.

"You know why I'm doing this, John!" he yelled while pointing off in the distance. "You know what's out there! What's chasing me! Why would you risk that?!"

"Don't make the same mistakes I did, Sol. Leaving your family behind isn't any kind of way to save them. Besides, it's too late now." Shiro seemed finite in his answer as he pointed in Kaidan's direction. "They know you're here now, Sol. Tell them the truth." Shepard glared once again and growled, which something he usually did after losing an argument. Instead of yelling more, he instead leaned over with an arm cupped around his ribs while hacking up a few splatters of blood.

"Shepard!" both Liara and Kaidan said in unison as they rushed over to help him up. Kaidan a hold of Shepard by the arm as Liara did another scan.

"He needs medical attention right away. We need to get him back to the Normandy. I'll call Cortez for a pick-up," she said, turning to press two fingers against the side of her head to make the call. Kaidan continued to hold onto Shepard the avoided eye contact continued. The Major also pressed his lips together, despite wanting to say a million things. He knew that this wasn't the time or place for them just yet. Distraught, Shiro moved to stand next to Kyo, who did his best to comfort the saddened friend. He too also had many questions, but he also knew that his questions weren't that impressive or really that important. It didn't take long for the dust to kick up around them as the shuttle landed. Cortez had been quickly briefed, but still gave a smile and a nod to Shepard as he was being helped into the Kodiak.

"Welcome back, sir," the Pilot said before taking off. Shepard continued to hold his chest as Kaidan sat protectively next to him in silence. No one spoke during the entire flight back to the Normandy until they rushed the battered Leader into the med bay. Dr. Chakwas promptly locked everyone out of the room to stabilize Shepard's condition, leaving the remaining three in an awkward stance in the Commons area. Naturally, all eyes were on Shiro, who seemed lost in thought while staring off into the distance.

"Shiro? Shiro!" Kaidan snapped, gaining the man's attention. The ex-Agent had no idea how long he had been thinking when he finally noticed Kaidan speaking. "Answer the damn question."

"What? What did you ask?"

Sighing, Kaidan rubbed his sore eyes and forehead. They were still red from the tears and stress over today's events. "I said…what's your relationship with Shepard? And 'Sol'? He even called you, 'John'." The hand that Shiro had over his mouth moved out of the way as he stood up straight.

"That…," he started to answer, but sighed before he could finish. He too then stopped to rub his forehead before his hand gestured giving up. "It's complicated and it's not my place to talk about. Ask Sol when he…" but Shiro's answer was interrupted as the Doctor came out of the room. She walked calmly over them with a small smile.

"That man never ceases to amaze me. Listen, the truth is that he doesn't want to speak to you." While she looked at Kaidan at first, she then looked to the other two. "Any of you, but I told him to stop being a baby. Kaidan, you can go in." A hand then went to the Major's shoulder. "Take all the time you need. Then rest of you, go…clean guns or whatever it is you do."

Kaidan relaxed a bit and nodded. "Thanks Doc." He then moved to walk into the medical lab, leaving everyone else behind. On the bed and covered with a white blanket was a stripped down Commander in just his black underwear. Surprisingly enough, he was actually sitting up with his ribs taped in place with some sort of elastic metal wrap. There was also an IV in his right forearm. Miranda had been moved into Liara's old room to continue her rest. The first thing Kaidan noticed was that Shepard's shiny, black hair had grown longer. It also looked a bit thicker. The tips of his bangs, that use to stop just before his eyebrows, were now brushed to the side and nearly covering one of his eyes. The rest sort of hung where it wanted to, covering the tips of his ears and the back of his neck. The usual beard stubble was also thinner than normal, which allowed for Kaidan to see that Shepard's face wasn't exactly as he remembered.

Well, to be more accurate, it was closer to what he remembered when they had first meet those few years ago, but it was now even smoother than that. It finally dawned on Kaidan that Shepard had somehow gotten younger. The deep creases around the dark eyes were all but gone entirely, even the smile lines around his lips had faded. It was even more obvious from before as Kaidan pulled up a chair to sit down next to him. The Major had managed to change out of his armor while waiting, but was carrying the N7 hoodie instead of wearing it. This left Kaidan in a tight black t-shirt, which technically still belonged to his lover. While Shepard didn't exactly look at Kaidan as he came in, he did look down at the hoodie when it was presented to him on his lap.

"I…thought you'd want this back," Kaidan said, breaking the silence.

"…Thanks." In a sad attempt to make things less awkward, Kaidan elevated his voice to sound less sad.

"So, this is weird, right? Last time we were in a room like this, I was the one in the bed and you were sitting here scolding me."

"I wasn't scolding you…"

"Sure you were! About Horizon and…everything."

"That wasn't scolding, I was just seeing if we were okay."

"So…are we?"

"Are we what?" Shepard finally looked to Kaidan then. He noticed how close the Major was and the weeping expression upon his face. The tears had come back as Kaidan reached out to put his hands on top of the Commander's.

"Are we going to be okay?" The question combined with Kaidan's choked up tone of voice made Shepard look away again. "Why do this, Shepard? Why hide from me? And what's with you and Shiro? What's the relationship between you two because if it is what I think it is, just tell it to me straight."

The Commander made a face at the accusation. "What? No! It's nothing like that!"

"So what is it then, huh? He's calling you some weird name and you're calling him your first name. I just…" Kaidan paused as he lowered his head. More tears started to come from his eyes as he held Shepard's bare hand against his own face. This time however, instead of pulling away, it caressed the skin of Kaidan's check. The Major turned unconsciously to nuzzle into the palm, feeling ashamed that he couldn't control himself. Shepard's lips parted to speak, but he bit down on them the first time. Finally with a sigh, he decided to be honest for the first time since their unplanned reunion.

"My…name wasn't always John Shepard, Kaidan. That was the name I used when I joined the Alliance. My birth name was Solaris Redford. Um, Sol, for short… and the one you call Shiro's real name is actually John Shepard." With widened eyes, Kaidan looked up surprised.

"You changed your name? Why would you take the name of someone else?"

"Because," Shepard paused as he pulled his hand away slowly. "He's my dad."


	15. Origins: Part 1

"Wait, you're his _what _now?" Kyo stopped to ask as Shiro, Liara, and himself sat at the common's table just outside of the medical lab near the small kitchenette. Shiro had his chin rested on intertwined fingers as his elbows were perched on the tabletop. His head tilted downward just enough so that the overgrown white bangs covered his eyes before he looked over in Kyo's direction with a sad smile.

"Not biologically, of course. I found him when he was just a kid," he added to make it clear that there was no blood relation between himself and the Commander.

"But your age?" then questioned Liara. "Even with genetic modifications, you must have been just a young boy yourself for a human…" But Shiro shook his head before she could even finish her sentence.

"I'm older than I look", the ex-Agent insisted.

"_Agent four-zero-five. Agent four-zero-five. Come in._" A female voice over the radio signal spoke directly into the ear of a skinny, hooded form as he crawled through the broken glass of a window into a ruined apartment. The walls were covered with splatters of blood and singe marks from the spray of bullets that were freshly made only a few moments ago. The curtains had been torn and bloodied as well, but at least this made it easier for the hooded figure to get inside. On the floor were two bodies in close proximity to one another, each one completely covered in bleeding holes as they lie dead on the wooden floor. It was a man and a woman who were close in age and dressed in fine attire. The man was tall with slicked-back black hair, wearing a black and white tuxedo, an expensive watch, and still had his pistol in hand that he may have gotten one or two shots off with before falling down dead.

The woman, on the other hand, wore a form fitting white dress that was now red from her blood soaking through the fabric. A string of pearls were across her neck with what appeared to be diamond earrings to match the bracelet on her wrist. Not far away from her body was a still closed and matching dress purse with a gold clasp that had been made specifically to go along with her elegant dress. This had been yet another gang killing from the recent string of internal gangland rivalries that were tearing this area apart. The Tenth Street Reds had enemies on both outside and even from within their own family. Removing the hoodie exposed the short, but messy white hair of the dark -skinned young man with bright green eyes. On the back of his neck, you could see the glimpse of an implant just underneath the hairline.

Coldly, he stepped over the bodies to move towards the desk area to active the laptop there. "_Agent, you've got about five minutes before the police arrive. Gather the information and take it to your safe house to decipher."_

"This isn't my first job, Operator. Shut up and let me work." Before the Operator on the other line could protest, he cut the feed to his inner ear and sighed in relief. This was a simple enough snatch and grab job that even a rookie could do. Five minutes? With a final keystroke, the upload began to his omni-tool. Work completed in less than one. Turning back to the window, the Agent started to climb out again, but a small noise caught his attention. It was the sound of shuffling from the closet, for sure. It put the young man on edge enough to pull out a pistol from his waistline underneath the dark gray fabric of a shabby pullover. Ever so carefully, he walked towards the door that had been locked down electronically on the inside. Holding the onmi-tool up, the locked bleeped twice before turning from red to green. Giving the circle a tap, it opened to a row of men's coats and a small armory. As the Agent looked straight ahead, he saw nothing, but another noise came from underneath a fallen coat that had been formed into a small pile on the floor. "A damn dog?" was asked out loud before giving the whimpering pile a kick, but the noise that it made after than wasn't canine at all. The same foot pushed the black coat away only to find a small child curled up around himself, bleeding profusely.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Exasperated, the Agent then lowered the pistol, but it wasn't out of pity or sadness. Instead, it was irritation. Whoever staged the hit on the happy couple in the living room had obviously done a shitty job not getting their damn kid as well. The child had black hair, similar to his father, and had taken refuge after taking a bullet to his stomach in the closet. He had found some comfort under his father's large coat, despite his parents getting blown to hell just on the other side of the door. The blood loss had left him barely conscious, however it was the pain that kept him somewhat alert. Still, to survive the initial attack only to be killed now by someone taking advantage of the situation, who only came to steal his parent's database, was a cruel fate. The Intruder had considered this, even as he took aim at the child's head with the pistol again. All Cerberus Agents knew protocol very well for these situations: No witnesses, no survivors.

"…Shit." The pistol dropped as this particular Agent instead took a knee to scan the boy's body. The bullets didn't just hit the stomach area, but a second shot had also grazed his heart. There was heavy bleeding that medi-gel would slow down, but the chances to survive after this long were still slim. Tapping the screen on his wrist, the first application of gel was applied to stop some of the more intense bleeding and to numb the pain. The whimpering finally began to decrease and eventually it was just enough to sedate the young boy entirely. The black coat made for a good bundle as the child was then wrapped up and put over the grown man's shoulder. In the distance, sirens could be heard as they approached the apartment building.

It was a sunny afternoon when the sleeping boy awoke from a feverish dream underneath a tattered white blanket on a worn down floor mat. He didn't recognize where he was and attempted to sit up, but could barely move. There was still that sharp pain in his chest and stomach still, though it was most just the fatigue and weariness that kept him in the makeshift bed. Lying back down, his large, curious grey eyes scanned the room for signs of life until they noticed a strange man sitting at a floor desk. The man was focused on the laptop in front of him, paying the child no mind. The boy then tried to speak, but only made a grunting noise from his throat being dry. This at least altered his savior, who looked surprised as he got up from his seat and walked over barefooted towards him. The Agent sat on his knees, scanning over the body with an omni-tool for a moment before putting his arm down. While the man was wearing some sort of worn, but fitting black clothing, the child was in a white pair of child-sized pajama pants and a blue shirt that didn't belong to him. There was a curious stare at first between the man and boy, before the Agent gave a sigh of relief.

"You're alive…," he said breathless, both surprised and relieved. The dark circles under the green eyes indicated a good amount of time spent not being able to sleep. The boy only blinked before he began to remember what happened; the screaming, the gunfire, the blood, and finally the pain. He also knew that if he was here with a stranger, that his parents were no longer with him. Tears rolled out from the tired child's eyes as his small hands came up to comfort himself. It was almost an instinct that caused the Agent to reach out towards to boy so that his larger hands could stroke the short, yet soft black hair before carefully pulling the boy up for a comforting hug as he was cried upon. There was something else. The was suddenly this unexplained feeling that urged the Agent hug back, patting the frail thin back of a human child who just lost his entire life.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm here, okay?" There was a pause for a moment as he pulled the boy away to face him with a warm smile. "My name is John. John Shepard. I was…" There was a pause. Somehow explaining that he was grave robbing didn't seem like such a good thing to say to a seven year old. "I uh, knew your dad. You're going to stay with me from now on, okay?" It surprised John that the boy seemed to understand the situation at all. Why on Earth would a kid suddenly be okay with being passed off to a complete stranger by his folks? "I guess you were handled by a lot of friends of your mom and dad, huh?" The boy looked away from shame as he nodded. His mouth then opened to speak, but instead his hands moved up to hold onto his sore throat while making a grimacing face. It was dry and cracking, even more so now that he had cried.

John looked in a panic for a moment before standing up to carry the boy to the kitchen. It was a tiny, one room apartment that was surprising clean on the inside, despite the neighborhood and price range it was in. There were several different laptops and pieces of equipment lying around in small towers, while only short surfaces were available as furniture. There were no chairs or couches, just a small floor desk and some thin mattresses for bedding in the middle of the dwelling. The boy was sat down on top of one of the kitchen countertops as John went into the medium-sized white fridge to get a bottle of cool water. After twisting off the cap, he handed it over the waiting child.

"Your name is Solaris Redford, right? Do people call you Sol?" After drinking eagerly, the boy then nodded. John smiled as he watched. "Do you know what Sol means? It's the name of the sun and the system we're in right now. Someone must have loved you very much to call you that." Sol gave a sad smile, looking down into the half-empty glass container as he was finally able to speak clearly.

"Mom…did." His voice as soft, awkward and shy.

"Well," John sighed. "We can keep your first name…but Redford has to go. I've already changed it in the databanks, so no one will come looking for you. You have a new last name now, okay? Instead of Redford, you'll be a Shepard like I am. Do you understand?" With questioning eyes, the boy did not. Frowning, John leaned in to try to explain himself better. His rich accented voice softened as he tried to be less intimidating. "Sol, your mommy and daddy had a lot of bad people after them. If they knew you were still alive, they are going to try to find you too okay?" Suddenly, Sol looked frightened. His body began to shake with his hands trembling the water bottle. That was until the warm hand came back up to pet his black hair. "Don't worry, I won't let them get you…but you can't be Sol Redford anymore, alright? We're going to pretend that you're Sol Shepard, my son. I…know I'm not your real dad, but let's pretend until you're safe again, okay?"

That seemed to clear it up, as the little boy understood danger and pretending. After nodding, the hand playfully ruffled up his hair until a smile came across his face. It was afterwards when his face became inquisitive again. "Do I have to call you daddy?" It was an honest question that made even John stop to think.

"Well…no…I'm not your real dad…You can call me John, alright?" he smiled to Sol. The boy only nodded as he tried to process the information. "And I'll call you Sol, okay? Can I call you that?" With another smile, the boy nodded. It seemed like good progress for two complete strangers. However, Sol was still very young. The seven year old often cried out for his mother at night and dreamt of his parent's death for many years. There was a distance between them, as John was new to the concept of bad dreams, bedwetting, and tantrums. It would take time for the pair to become a family.

On a dark rainy night, Solaris Shepard sat underneath a concrete tunnel in a rundown part of the city to take shelter from the weather. He had gotten into another fight with his caretaker and it had reached a boiling point where Sol no longer felt as if he had a place in this world. Despite his injuries as a child, his body had grown strong without any side effects and only two small scars from the bullet wounds, but John kept him on a short leash just the same. Sol had made it very clear that he wanted to do what normal kids did in the gang-filled area he lived in did. He wanted to work as a Runner, a gang runt that started off by doing drug or money drops, or even use the skills he had learned from John as a hacker to make some extra money. Not to mention, that despite John's supposedly lucrative work, that they still lived in that small, crappy apartment where they had been in for the past six years. Now at age of thirteen, Sol was determined to do more than stay inside all day and read off the extranet. The rain continued to pour outside of the drippy stone tunnel and it was getting dark. The darker it got, the more his eyes filled up with tears. He wanted to go home now, but couldn't bring himself to face his adoptive father. He didn't even feel like John wanted him there half of the time. He always pulled away or made sure to remind Sol that he wasn't his real dad. With his face buried on bare, crossed dirty arms, Sol sobs were muffled by the thunder.

"You're going to catch a cold if you stay under there," said John, who had ducked his way into the pipe to squat in front of his adopted son. His tall, yet lanky body was entirely too big for the tight space. Sol looked up startled at first, but then frowned.

"What do you care?" he asked in anger as an arm came to wipe the tears away quickly. "I'm not your real son." John only frowned at that, reaching out to inspect a fresh cut on Sol's forehead.

"Is that what you're mad about?"

"I'm not mad! I...I…"

"Let's go home, okay?" John smiled sadly, giving Sol a familiar ruffle to his short, messy hair. It triggered only more tears, but Sol sniffled manly-like as he nodded. John crawled out of the tunnel first, reopening his red umbrella as Sol crawled out next to him. The teenager took the offer to find refuge in the dark grey raincoat as he clung to his father for both comfort and forgiveness.

"I'm sorry…dad…" John looked surprised, but smiled, giving Sol a rub to his back as they walked back to the apartment nuzzled closely to each other that was only a few blocks away. Even though he had run off, Sol didn't even bother actually going anywhere.

Today was Solaris's eighteenth birthday. He already had several plans in the works, which no longer included spending the weekend with his now ex-girlfriend because she was a total bitch. So what if he cheated a little with a guy he met at the nightclub? She slept with him too! So three-ways were only okay if you all had sex at the same time? Who made that stupid rule? The next plan was to spend a quiet birthday at home with his dad, who got hit on by more girls that were Sol's age than he did, the bastard. John only shrugged about it, but always kept his personal life a secret even from his own son. For a teen his age, Sol wasn't typical by any means. He was smart, for starters, trained harshly under his father in advanced hacking and cybernetic warfare. He could do in minutes what took typical hackers in the area hours. Not that he worked for any gangs, as John made it very clear what the local gangs were like. Not to mention that Solaris still had plenty of nightmares as to what happened to his parents and himself as a child. If not for John…well. He didn't even want to think about that.

At the breakfast table, Sol fidgeted with his outdated omni-tool with a frustrated sigh. "Damnit! Process you piece of shit!" John snickered to himself while engrossed in reading something off of an thin datapad.

"You're running too many programs. Prioritize."

"I am!" Sol insisted as he closed the screen to shovel yellow scrambled eggs into his mouth. The food was chased down with some sort of green juice which caused the teen to squint his face up from the bitter taste. "If only _someone_ would get me the new update for the Phoenix model, I wouldn't have this problem."

"Well, why don't you ask your girlfriend?" The response was smug, albeit playful, as John continued to read while pretending to ignore Sol's obvious staring. Over the years, little had changed in John's physical appearance outside of now having slightly longer hair. While it may have been confusing to outsiders, Sol never thought much about how his adoptive father looked the same age as he did. He always looked like that.

"But we broke up last week!"

"Well, that's a shame isn't it?" Another smug remark as John looked over the pad at his annoyed son. Sol sighed, obviously not getting anywhere and took another swig of the green liquid.

"Fine, I'll be back later with the groceries for tonight. I told Randy I'd meet him at the bar for some part-time work."

"Work? I thought you already updated their security system?"

"Yeah, but he needs someone to clean up the joint after a Batarian tore the place up in a fight last night. Said he'd give me half the creds he's making if I helped out." John made a face, but Sol taking up odd jobs was better than a life of crime that sucked in most of the kids his age. Despite his arrogance, Solaris was a good person at heart and was always willing to help a friend out, even if it meant scrubbing blood off the walls at some hole-in-the-wall local pub. At least the bar wasn't open yet, as it was still daylight outside.

"Fine, but don't hang out too long after you get done. That place is a shitter."

"Noted. Bye, dad." Sol stood up, giving a wave as he left the apartment. As the door closed behind him, John sighed a bit in irritation. He tapped the screen on the datapad that now rested on the table to listen to an encrypted message left for him. It was a series of beeps that decoded into a contact address which John dialed upon his wrist.

"_Agent four-zero-five." _The familiar voice of the female Operator spoke directly into John's ear. "_Report to Outpost 44 for debriefing. This is your final warning, Agent. Bring us the trainee or steps will be taken." _

The line disconnected and left John in silence. This was his third message that he was meaning to ignore, but the threat at the end made him uneasy. "Damnit!" A frustrated fist hit the table as John stood up to walk around the apartment. Near the back closet, he squatted down to scan the white surface of the floor with an active omni-tool. The digital cloak that was there faded, revealing a small metal and electronically locked panel that buzzed before it opened up. Inside were several laptops and even more datapads, as well as a small arsenal of firearms including a few plasma grenades and a short sword. It was a stash that not even his own son knew about and John had every intention on keeping it that way, but it was now something that he regretted not being honest about. The bar which Sol had walked to was only a few blocks away, hidden behind a few abandoned buildings in a back lot down a flight of crumbling stone steps and through a doorway that was currently open to let some of the smell out. Inside, a young man with blonde hair was busy turning chairs over and taking some outside to hose them off in the alleyway. "Randy? Where's Sol?"

The blonde stopped to look towards the other man and noticed John right away, even though he was wearing a heavy black overcoat on despite it only being early April. "Never showed? I thought he got tied up with Mya, but she didn't hear from him either."

"_Steps have been taken, Agent."_


	16. Origins Part II Some Old Friends

"So, wait. You mean you were having threesomes when you were eighteen?" The question asked by Kaidan was enough to make Shepard stammer and stop mid-sentence just before getting into the second half of his story.

"And…what?" The red and black eyes got wide for a moment as they blinked in confusion. They then narrowed as an eyebrow arched. "Is _that_ all you got from this story?" Shepard sounded offended, if not borderline angry. Here he was pouring his heart out retelling his life story that he never told a single other soul before, but all Kaidan seemed to be focused on was his teenage promiscuity.

"No," responded the defensive Major as he closed his tired eyes with a sigh. "I get it. You were the son of some gang leader who got killed and taken in by a Cerberus Agent who, by the way, looks entirely too good for his age considering, but is _that_ really what you were doing you were eighteen?" The response only caused Shepard's eyes only further narrow.

"Well, _technically_ I was still seventeen, but I don't see how tha-"

"Do you have any idea what _I_ was doing at seventeen?"

"Obviously not getting laid…," smirked the Commander as he looked away with a smug expression upon his face. It was now Kaidan's turn to shoot a nasty glare of annoyance.

"_I _was trying to survive Jump Zero. I didn't have time to engage in…in…underage, premarital sex," he huffed while leaning in the uncomfortable chair as his arms folded over his chest. Suddenly, Shepard started to laugh. It came out in a quick sputter followed by hearty, rib-hurting bellowing.

"_Premarital_? Really, Kaidan?" he chuckled, wiping a tear from his left eye as he looked in the Major's direction once again. "I never heard you complain about all the premarital sex _we_ were having."

"Well, that's different!" Kaidan started to laugh as well, happy to break some of the tension in the room. He also realized how ridiculous he was sounding, even though a part of him was completely serious about it. It wasn't a surprise to him that Shepard grew up a normal, promiscuous teenage boy, but he would have never guessed that he had also participated small orgies. It was needless to say that Kaidan was feeling sexually threatened right about it.

"Oh? How?" Shepard asked in an attempt to be both clever and quip. "I don't see a _ring_ on this finger, Major." Hold up his left hand, Shepard then pointed to his ring finger with the index from his right. It wiggled as well, just in case Kaidan didn't catch the meaning.

"Well, it was hard to find the right moment to propose when we had a _Reaper_ invasion!" Shepard only rolled his eyes playfully as he also chuckled about it. Still, after looking away, he thought back to that time in nostalgia. Joking aside, Kaidan did make a point.

"Yeah, you may have been right about that. There wasn't really enough time to be normal, huh?"

"We have time now, Shepard." The Commander looked down as his left hand was taken by the Major's. One clasped over the other, covering Shepard's fingers entirely and gave them a small squeeze. Still, Shepard's smile began to slowly fade as he once again pulled away from Kaidan's touch.

"I hope so," he said softly before using the hand he pulled away to rub across his mouth as his throat cleared. "So, should I keep going or..?"

"Oh, right." Kaidan then straightened his posture back to cross his arms again in an attempt to keep his hands to himself. "Yeah, sorry. Got a little sidetracked there. Please continue." Shepard nodded, trying to think.

"Where was I? Oh right…"

_"Steps have been taken, Agent."_

John placed his fingers against his right ear, keeping his voice hushed as he spoke harshly to the Operator. "What have you done with my son?"

"_The trainee has been taken to the Outpost for extraction. I suggest you come. Soon."_

Outpost 44 was a secluded water dock on the edge of the city that was sounded by the rusted war and oil ships from decades before. It was sort of a seafaring ship graveyard which housed the most desperate of criminal element from addicts to prostitution. It also was a quiet hideout for a few others who made their living in nefarious ways. A few miles underground, Solaris sat tied to a chair as he slowly regained consciousness underneath a dim and flickering overhead light. He could feel the blood from his head dripping into his eye as he was shaken awake.

"Sol. Sol! Wake up!' The yelling caused his head to pound as his eyes started to open slowly. Everything was blurry and his ears were ringing, making the voice both unnaturally loud and heavily distorted. When it finally started to clear up, he noticed that his father standing in front of him.

"Dad?" His throat was dry as he attempted to speak as he felt his hands being untied. Once freed, he moved to touch the cut on his forehead where he remembered just enough to know that he was cornered and struck by some unknown masked man. Touching the open wound made the teenage boy flinch, but the pain shocked him enough into being a bit more aware. John helped Sol stand, but could barely move himself. As soon as the younger Shepard got to his feet, John wavered and slid to the floor. Surprised, Sol then looked down, as he was now feeling less disoriented, to finally notice the blood. John had multiple wounds all over his body and was bleeding profusely. Looking around, the boy then noticed all of the other bodies of what he presumed to be his attackers. They were full of bullet holes, biotic burn marks, and some had even been stabbed and sliced open in various places. There were also pieces of attack mechs scattered about, as well as an exploded heavy mech that was still smoking from being on fire in the center of the concrete room.

Frightened, Sol's voice shook as he spoke while trying to help his dad up, but moving John's body just made it worse. "What…What happened? Dad? Dad!" John had closed his eyes for a moment, but reopened them after being called.

"Listen…I'm not going to make it out of here. Damn bastards tried to get you with a heavy mech since they couldn't catch me." John held his bleeding side with a sigh and a smile. "Listen, I cleared the way. Take this." With a bloody, shaking hand, he carefully tapped at his omni-tool to being an upload to Sol's arm. "These are…directions," John then coughed out. "And your birthday present." The son then looked to see that the Phoenix upgrade was also being installed to his tool. It was just enough to bring the newly eighteen year old to tears. He also noticed that wasn't just directions being uploaded. There were several megs of encrypted files as well as access to several bank accounts. "Sol, you have to leave town alright?"

"But dad, I can't just…" Sol's head hung in despair as the tears came out uncontrollably.

"Yes, you can. You need to leave now before the police get here. They'll lock you up without any question and…I…" John had to stop, coughing up blood once again and curled up in pain on the floor.

"Go!" The dying man yelled. "Now!" Gathering his strength, Sol gave his father a final hug as tightly as he could while still cradling the broken body.

"I love you…," he whispered before he stood up to run away. It was a desperate run that took everything in the boy's power not to stop and turn back. John watched as his only child had mustered up the courage to do what was necessary before his eyes grew dark. Smiling, the head of white hair hit the floor as the overhead light finally flickered out. While running, Solaris had activated the map which he had acquired, but was otherwise running nearly blind out of the facility. He noticed several bodies and biotic scorch marks on the wall. He had seen the dead before, but even this was a bit much. He had to continuously run up rusted metal stairs and through abandoned hallways before finally making it outside into the sunlight now completely out of breath. He only had a few seconds before he then had to duck behind a wall as the local authorities arrived.

Turning to his left, Sol saw a chance to escape by scaling a metal fence to the other side after deactivating its electric defenses. Once again, the young man finally tasted freedom, but at what cost? He had no idea as to why he was kidnapped in the first place nor did he have a clue as to how his father managed to take down all those people and droids on his own. It didn't matter really, because losing his family for a second time left Solaris heartbroken and empty. He was also still covered in blood, his father's blood, a fact that he had to take care of before anyone else could find him. After wandering the coastline for a few hours, he managed to find a rundown hotel that didn't bother asking any questions. He had the credits to pay for at least a few days under a false name, but all he really wanted was a shower. He knew that he couldn't even go back to his own apartment, figuring that whoever was after him would be there. For the next several months, Solaris continued to leave the city behind while taking up work where he could under the name 'John Shepard' instead of Solaris.

A part of him wanted someone who was associated with his adoptive father to come and find him, but no one seemed to take the bait. It was December of the same year when Solaris, now John, stood in front of a recruitment center for the Alliance Military reading a sign and drinking a hot coffee while wrapped up in several layers of old clothes to keep warm. It was a call for the 'best and brightest' of future Engineers, which was meant to attract the students from a local university nearby. Curious, he walked in. Inside the clean office was a man at the front desk, dressed sharply in a blue and gold uniform. His job was simple: to filter out the prospective cadets from the schools nearby from the local bums in the area. Today, it looked like it was another bum looking for a place that would give three squares a day. "Ah, welcome. Let's me just get the paperwork for the new grunts...," the older black man spoke as he adjusted his glasses. As he reached for the typical sign-up sheets, the young man's hand came on top of his.

"I'm here to be an Engineer."

The Recruitment Officer paused, smiling to the point of nearly laughing. "And what sort of education do you have?" It was a question with an obvious answer.

"Formally?" There was a hesitation before answering. "I've never been to a regular school."

"That's what I thought…so let me just…"

"Wait, is there some kind of test? I was trained by one of the best and I promise you that I can pass anything you throw at me." This bravado intrigued the Officer.

"Is that so? Alright then, young man. What's your name?"

"It's…John. John Shepard."

"Alright, Shepard," said the Officer, which was the first time someone simply referred to the boy by his last name. "You can take a seat over there and let's see how you can on this placement exam. If you can pass the preliminaries, I will personally sign off that you start Engineer training. Deal?" Shepard smiled and nodded, eagerly taking the datapad.

"Yes sir. Deal." Again, the older man laughed and sat back down. "You have two hours. Good luck, son."

Shepard gave a firm nod before moving to take a seat down the hallway. As he walked, he had already begun tapping away at the pad. Near the end of the hall was a small blue chair in which he took a seat in, but only for about twenty minutes before coming back up to the desk. "Sir?"

"I'm sorry, lad. I can't answer any questions, but you can give up and try again…"

"I'm finished. Here you go." Shepard then slipped the pad onto the desk quietly and waited for it to be taken. Adjusting his glasses, the Officer looked at the pad and inserted a code to check the grade. Then he did it a second time to be sure.

"Who…did you say trained you?"

"My father, sir. He passed away recently. He wanted to make sure I didn't end up in a gang so…"

"I see…Well, a deal is a deal. Welcome to the Alliance, Shepard. Let's get you into a room to get your paperwork ready." As the man placed the pad down, Shepard's score still blinked on the screen; one hundred percent correct.

"So after that, I joined up with the Alliance and you know the rest," Shepard said and gave an exhausted sigh as he leaned back against the pillow on the now raised back of the adjusted bed in the medical lab. Kaidan only laughed and shook his head.

"I can't believe you got a perfect score on the Engineer entrance exam. I've seen that thing. Brutal." Shepard just shrugged.

"It wasn't that hard. I use to do security tweaks to for Volus merchants trying to hide their fabricated projections. Now _that_ is a tough code to crack. A few routine questions on legal software was nothing."

"But that doesn't explain how Shiro…I mean, how John got out of there. You think Cerberus did a sweep after you got out?" Shepard turned to Kaidan before nodding.

"For all I know, the cops I dodged could have been on their payroll. Nothing surprises me about them anymore." As Kaidan opened his lips to speak, the locked door of the med bay suddenly unlocked and opened itself, revealing Shiro on the other side. He stepped in without asking, letting the door close behind himself. Kaidan immediately stood to defend Shepard, but then felt like a jackass. Instead he walked up to the other Biotic while scratching the back of his head. Shiro looked surprised at a humbled Major, especially when the Spectre stumbled around an apology.

"Um, I'm sorry…about everything from before. If I would have known that you were…" It was awkward, at best, and forced Shiro to just nod.

"It's fine, Kaidan. I…suppose I owe you an apology as well, on my son's behalf at least." A playfully angry glare was then shot at the Commander, who smiled back in return. "Major, I'd like a moment with him alone, if you don't mind."

"Ah, right. Right…," Kaidan nodded, looking back to Shepard. The Commander gave a nod to him as well.

"Gather up the crew for a meeting in the debriefing room, Kaidan. I have a lot of explaining to do." Again, Alenko nodded as he turned to leave. There was a relief in his chest that he hadn't felt in months, along with butterflies in his stomach. He had to force himself to take this one step at a time. Yes, Shepard was back, but he had yet to explain both how and why. Outside in the mess hall, Liara and Kyo remained in various areas. Kyo had taken a leaning position against the wall near the kitchen as Liara paced back and forth near the tables. Once she noticed Kaidan, she hurried over to him in a panic.

"How is he? Is he going to be alright?" She took a hold of Kaidan's hands in desperate need of an answer.

"He's…going to be fine, Liara." He then took a step away from her to put his fingers against an ear. "Joker, call Vega and Cortez for a meeting in the debriefing room. You too."

"Oh, great. This is when he tells us about another world ending secret message he found and how we need to kiss our asses goodbye."

"Not funny, Joker. Move your crippled ass." Joker then sighed over the communications line.

"Be right there."

In the debriefing room, the remaining crew of the Normandy stood around in an awkward stance as they mumbled amongst themselves. After waiting nearly fifteen minutes, the Commander walked in wearing his favoring hoodie that Kaidan returned while in the med lab, a white t-shirt, and a pair of black military-styled cargo pants. His longer hair was brushed to the side of his forehead as the room went silent upon his arrival. His adopted father walked in close behind, standing next to him as Shepard began to speak. The circle from left to right was Kaidan, Liara, Kyo, Miranda, Joker, Vega, Cortez, and finally Shiro standing to Shepard's right.

Clearing his throat, the returned Commander finally addressed his crew. "I know you all have a lot of questions, so let me just clear some up now. Yes, I am Commander Shepard. No, I am not a clone. Yes, all of my memories are intact, which you can test me on later if you prefer, and no Vega, I will not have another pull-up contest with you," he smiled to the Lieutenant. "I embarrassed you once already." There was a low amount of laughter as Cortez playfully elbowed his friend.

"Ah, kick me while I'm down eh, Loco?" Vega said over the table, causing some more chuckles from the room. Shepard gave a nod before returning to his speech.

"There are a lot of things I wish to address to you all first before speaking with you individually. First, I would like to apologize for my deception. I'm sorry that I did that to all of you." He stopped then to turn to Kaidan. "Especially you." The Major turned his eyes to Shepard's face and gave a nod with an approving smile. Shepard smiled back before continuing. "But I had good reasons, I assure you…So, I may as well start from the beginning. Ladies and gentlemen, we're being hunted."

"I KNEW IT!" Joker suddenly exclaimed. "There is NEVER any good news that comes from this room!"

"Calm down, Joker…," Liara tried to coo as she came to the Pilot's side. Joker had placed his face to his hand and sighed heavily. "So what is it this time? A giant marshmallow man or something?" Shepard paused a moment before reaching over to tap at the digital keyboard display on the table in front of him. The holograph in the center of the table then projected an all too familiar image. Kyo, who had his arms crossed up until then, peered closer at what was being shown.

"That can't be right, can it? That's…That's a God damn Reaper."

The mumbles started again as Shepard stood there in silence for a second. "No," he then stated. "It isn't." Kaidan looked surprised before it something dawned on him.

"No, that's not a Reaper. That's a Leviathan."

"But that…," Shiro began to stammer as he turned to look angrily at his son. "Why didn't you tell me about this?!" He seemed unreasonably angry for the given situation and Shepard only raised an eyebrow.

"I was busy trying to break you out of that Cerberus lab. Sorry I skimped on the details a bit…" At that, Kyo then raised his own voice.

"What do you mean by that? I was sent there by Admiral Hackett because he got an SOS from Shiro." Shepard sighed in frustration, moving a hand to his forehead.

"Okay, I leaked the information once I found out at Cerberus had my father in lock up. I sent that SOS so that Hackett would send a team down."

"That doesn't make sense," Miranda chimed in. "How did you even find out about that? Even I didn't know he was locked up down there. If I would have known I…" It didn't take long for the entire crew to start breaking out with their own questions, all speaking over one another. Shepard continued to rub his head before slamming both of his fists down onto the table.

"ENOUGH!" The room instantly became silent. "Okay, I'm trying to explain so…let me just start over."

"What happened to you at the Catalyst, Shepard?" Kaidan asked softly as he took a step closer to the ticked off Commander. It was a question that was on everyone's mind, to which they all nodded in agreement that they wanted an answer. Shepard looked to his lover for a moment and stared deep into those hazel eyes that he had missed so much. It calmed him enough to speak again.

"Alright, I'll start from there." Standing up straight, Shepard was quiet for a moment before he began to answer. "I didn't make it to the beam. I got shot down by Harbinger, but something happened. I was hurt, badly, but alive. I shot through the remaining waves of Reaper forces before making it to the beam. Not sure how much time passed, but I woke up to Anderson's voice."

"How did you manage to survive a direct hit from a Reaper laser?" Liara asked as everyone else remained silent. Shepard just shrugged.

"To be honest, I have no idea. When I got to Anderson, the Illusive Man was there. He was covered in Reaper tech, talking about how he could control the damn things. Completely crazy, but he did have some indoctrination powers. He took over my body and pulled my trigger to...to shoot Anderson." The crew then looked away sadly, especially Kaidan and Liara who remembered him fondly.

"But, he was still alive and I managed to break the hold of the Illusive Man, killing him. We sat there, Anderson and I, looking at Earth and planned on bleeding out together. He…went first and I was soon to follow."

"But then Admiral Hackett managed to contact you. The Crucible wasn't firing. I heard it on the coms as I was in the med bay," added the Major. Shepard turned to him and nodded.

"Right. I was fading fast and didn't understand what to do. I blacked out trying to access some kind of control panel and I woke up to …" Shepard paused as he looked down trying to remember with his hands upon his hips. "To be honest, I don't know what it was really. It looked like a little kid but it was definitely the AI of the Citadel. It was the same AI that controlled the Reapers."

"A little kid? That's…creepy, yo," Vega spoke to himself while trying to wrap his head around it. "I was on the ground with you and Kaidan when we were taking back Earth in that final push. I don't remember seeing any Reaper little kids around there, thank God." But Shepard then shook his head.

"It wasn't a Reaper kid. It was like a holographic made to look like a little boy."

"It was probably trying to make you feel sympathetic," Shiro then said while looking away in thought. "AI's can predict your thought patterns. If it showed you a vulnerable child, it was trying not to be destroyed." Shepard was surprised at the answer, taking a moment to consider it.

"Yeah, that does make more sense than what I was thinking. At any rate, it gave me three answers to the Reaper invasion, two of which that sounded like complete bullshit. If EDI taught me anything, it was that an unshackled AI can lie."

"Way to remember EDI, asshole." Joker was obviously offended, but Shepard shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Joker. I didn't mean it like that. EDI always was cracking jokes. They weren't truthful and she had a free will of her own. Any option outside of killing the damn thing just sounded bogus…so I blew up its power source. There was an explosion and…"

"And?" Kaidan asked.

"And that's it," Shepard said, not really sure what else to say. "I don't really know what happened after that."

"Then the Cruicible activated and destroyed the Reapers," Liara continued.

"And the Mass Effect Relays,' said Cortez.

"And all Artificial Intelligence…," concluded a depressed sounding Pilot.

"But what happened to _you_, Shepard?" Kaidan asked again, trying to push the story.

Shepard turned to look at Kaidan again. "I don't know. One minute my life was flashing before my eyes and the next…" There was a paused as the Commander's palms rested on the table. "The next I'm being woken up while floating in some sort of medical tank."

"Tank? I found Shiro in a medical tank too," perked up Kyo.

"Woken up by _who_?" Liara pushed. Shepard then smiled and began tapping at his omni-tool.

"By some old friends. You two can come out now." From his wrist emerged two round, glowing VI droids.

"I thought you'd never get around to us, Shepard," said the teasing female voice of one of the droids

"Thank you, Shepard-Commander," said the rougher male-like voice of the other.

The one with the softer voice then floated over the Joker, who stared at it blankly.

"Hello, Jeff."

"…EDI?"

The second droid then moved in front of the very confused Major. "It's good to see you again, Kaidan."

"…Legion?"


	17. Ultimatum

Shepard had to smile as his favorite Pilot's face look up like a Christmas tree. "EDI!" exclaimed Joker as he reached out to grab the glowing orb in front of him. Everyone then watched as he placed a puckered up kiss on what they assumed to be her face before hugging her to his chest. "Damn girl, I've missed you." EDI's light dimmed just a bit to a warm glow that indicated a serene mood. As she was busy being snuggled, Legion was experiencing several pokes from Kaidan as Shepard watched.

"But I thought all the Geth had died? This even included EDI…," Kaidan said as he finally put his finger down when turning towards the Commander.

"Death is not the same for synthetics as it is for organics," said Legion before returning to hover just above Shepard's right shoulder. Joker also finally realized that was strange for EDI to be back in one piece.

"That's right. As soon as the Crucible activated, your body and the AI core both went offline. All of the Geth stopped responding as well. What _exactly _happened to you guys?" EDI's orb turned upward to focus its center beam on Jeff's face briefly before turning away. Her light then dimmed a bit more in sadness.

"I did die, Jeff," she said quietly. "There was…darkness and I felt…cold."

"You _felt_ something?" Joker then asked as he looked down upon her. The orb gave a small nod.

"Yes," she admitted. "It was very frightening, but then I heard countless voices. I couldn't distinguish any of them until I heard Legion's specifically. He found me."

"Huh," Joker then said. "So what? There's like a robot…AI heaven?" EDI's orb wiggled a bit as if she were trying to snuggle a bit closer to Joker's chest.

"Heaven would not be the word I would use. Heaven indicates hope and happiness in the afterlife. This place had neither," she said sadly before perking up. "However, when I followed Legion's voice, I remerged inside Shepard's onmi-tool. For some reason, we were both drawn to the same place."

"And that's when I heard them talking to me. I woke up from whatever stasis I was in and they cracked the security so I could escape," said Shepard. "That's when I had to fight my way through the Leviathan indoctrinated forces. They manage to scrape me off the ground and hold me in some underground lab in London." Shepard then tapped his omni-tool to change the projected image on the table to one of the Leviathan artifact orbs along with some diagram notes. "They were shipping these in Alliance crates to different bases while in uniforms."

"Wait a minute, Commander," interrupted Cortez. "Are you telling me that they are making sleeper cells within the military?"

"Man, that is not good," added Vega. "How are we supposed to know who's on our side?"

"Same question I had to ask myself for those weeks I was hiding out, Lieutenant," said Shepard with a sigh as he placed his palms back onto the table so that he could lean over with his head down. "I had EDI trying to access old Cerberus records to see if they had any information we could use based on their indoctrination experiments while Legion monitored Alliance communications."

"That's when I was able to access the previously locked Project Lazarus files, which was attached to a file 'Code Name: Hunter' with a subject named John Shepard. I thought it was more than a coincidence that the name was the same as the Commander's", EDI added as she finally moved away from Joker's body to float toward Shiro. The quiet man gave a nod at her approach.

"Yes," Shiro said as he gave her a teasing poke. "And with my ability to interface directly, we had a nice long chat."

"Indeed, I was able to learn many embarrassing facts about our fearless leader," EDI then giggled.

"So…," Kyo finally spoke as he was trying his best to understand that there was both a living AI and a Geth now in the room. "You were expecting me and then fed me information so I would find Shepard's friends?"

"Wait. Just…wait," Kaidan said as he waved his hands in an attempt to get everyone to be quiet. "So you were behind all of this? Have you been following us this whole time?" he asked his lover while looking a bit hurt about it. Shepard glanced over without moving his head for a moment, but looked away soon afterward.

"I've been onboard since Jupiter, Kaidan," he then admitted.

"I...Argh!" Kaidan responded as he clinched a fist which began to glow as his temper rose. He then began to pace back and forth before finally pointing at Shepard with a wagging finger. "Damnit! I knew it! I knew I wasn't going crazy! You were in my room!"

Shepard chuckled then as he pushed himself off of the table to face his accuser. "First of all, that's _my_ room. "

"Oh, you know what I mean. What the hell did you hit me with that last time?" Kaidan asked before his voice lowered as he got as closer to Shepard. "Did…Did we really…._you know_?" Shepard only laughed a bit more before giving a coy shrug.

"No idea what you're talking about," he said then turned to face the meeting again. "At any rate, that pretty much sums it up. Even though the events on Rannoch didn't go as I planned, we still have a job to do people." This was an excellent point that Liara wanted to bring up.

"Shepard, why were we on Rannoch in the first place?" she asked. "We were told that Shiro needed to boost his tracking signal to find you, but he obviously already knew where you were." Legion's orb moved to float in front of the Doctor's face to address her question.

"That was my suggestion, Liara", he said. "I wished to both acquire a new mobile platform as well as use the Geth signal towers to track a frequency I copied from the Leviathan indoctrinated forces; the wave they use from their artifact to enlist others."

"I managed to get the signal tracked, but we didn't manage to get you a new body," sighed Shiro as he typed at his omni-tool. "Sending it to you now, EDI." As the data transmitted, EDI glowed brightly for a second before returning to normal.

"Data received. Shepard, permission to integrate back into the Normandy's systems?"

"It's your home, EDI. You don't have to ask me," Shepard smiled.

"Damn right she doesn't!" teased Joker who decided that it was time to take his leave. "Come on, babe. I'll walk with you back to the AI core."

"Thank you, Jeff", she responded as the odd couple walked out of the room. Shepard watched with a grin before turning to the rest of the crew.

"Well, that's it. We wait for EDI to get that tracker up. Dismissed." As the group shuffled out , Liara and Kaidan hung back with Shepard. While the Major had wanted to get some private time in with the Commander, Liara moved to the doorway before calling out.

"Kaidan, may I speak to you in private for a moment?" This interrupted Kaidan and Shepard's low spoken conversation. The hazel eyes turned to look at the Asari, but only briefly before turning back. Shepard, however, turned his face entirely to look at Liara before glancing back at Kaidan.

"I'll meet you upstairs then," Shepard said as he moved away from the table. Kaidan sighed, giving a reluctant nod.

"Yeah, I'll be up there in a minute."

"Liara," Shepard smiled to both acknowledge her in passing and as a way to say goodbye. Liara nodded to her friend and watched him head towards the elevator before stepping into the room. She then made sure to lock the door. Kaidan watched her closely as he leaned against the large table with his head down.

"Kaidan, I think now will be a good time to talk," the blue woman said timidly while fiddling with her own hands. She was close enough to him to feel nervous, but at least out of arm's length.

"About _what_, exactly?" Kaidan's tone had changed from pleasant to irate just that quickly. She had that effect it seemed.

"You know very well about what. Shepard has the right to know about…"

"There's nothing to tell, Liara," Kaidan said as he finally looked up at her. The usual kindness in his eyes was long gone and instead stared daggers at her frame. Clearing her throat, Liara clenched her fists as she gained some courage for her defense.

"That's not true and you know it. We need to tell him about what we had…" But she was cut off again as Kaidan clenched his fists and slammed them down on the tabletop.

"No, you had something and I had something before you decided to take what wasn't yours!"

"I already apologized for that, but that doesn't mean I didn't…"

"An apology isn't going to make up for what you did. Just let it go. Shepard doesn't need to know because it never happened!"

"Well, if you don't have it in you to tell him yourself, then I will", Liara answered defiantly as she turned to walk away. As she did, Kaidan reached out to grab her arm. Roughly, he pulled her back towards him to lean his face extremely close to hers.

"I swear to God, Liara. Don't do something that you'll regret." Flaring her biotics, the Asari roughly pulled away.

"I'd never thought I'd see you this way, Kaidan." She looked both disgusted and saddened at the Major's behavior as her upper arm throbbed painfully where he had grabbed her. There was a silence between the both of them as Kaidan put a hand to his face to calm his anger. His fingers rubbed his eyes before running to his chin.

"Fine, I'll tell him," he finally said while moving towards the door. As he got to it, he then stopped to turn to face her once again. "But I never want to see you again, regardless of what Shepard does."

"But that's not up to you to decide. It's Shepar-"

"I'm dead serious, Liara. Regardless of what happens, don't ever speak to me again." He then left the room, leaving the woman alone and deeply wounded. There was truth to Kaidan's words and it hurt enough to force her to find a chair so that she could cry into an open palm. Outside the door, the Major could hear her sobs, which impacted him more than he wanted them to. Still, he had promised to meet Shepard up in their room, but what he had originally planned on saying had suddenly changed.

Upstairs, Shepard had been anxiously waiting for Kaidan to arrive. He had taken off his hoodie, which had been tossed carelessly onto the back of the sofa, and had taken a seat on the edge of the bed. He was certain that he had quite a bit more explaining to do in regards to his stalking and new youthful appearance. Sadly, he only had an explanation for one of those things. As he sat there rubbing his sad excuse for beard stubble, Kaidan finally came in through the sliding door. Shepard stood to greet him but suddenly noticed Kaidan's weary expression. He then looked concerned as he approached the other Spectre.

"Something wrong?" asked Shepard, putting a hand on Kaidan's shoulder. The Major was rubbing his jaw and avoiding eye contact. "Kaidan?"

"Shepard," he responded, finally looking back. "We need to talk."

"Uh oh," Shepard laughed nervously. "That's never a good sign." He then took a seat on the sofa and patted the cushion next to him so Kaidan would come over. "Time for another heart to heart, huh? Hit me with it." The reference to their last talk at least made Kaidan smile briefly as he sat down. He started off by taking Shepard's hand and looking him in the eyes.

"Shepard, you know that I love you right? That even after all the crap we've been through with the Geth, Cerberus, the Reapers, and even your disappearing acts, that I'll always love you." Shepard just raised his eyebrows at that.

"And…that's a good thing, right?" he asked, wondering where this was going. Kaidan nodded in agreement.

"Yes…and I hope that you'll offer me the same courtesy."

"You…didn't join Cerberus when I wasn't looking, did you?"

"What? No!" Kaidan said, shaking his head. "Nothing like that! Just…listen for a minute okay?"

"Alright…Kaidan, just spit it out." There was another heavy sigh as the Major sadly squeezed the hand he was holding. He then let go to reach around his own neck to remove Shepard's damaged dog tags.

"I found these a few months back after we had been searching for your body on London. We couldn't find any trace of you for months after the attack, and in the end, all we found were these. It was like…closing your coffin to me. No body, just the tags of a long-lost solider." Shepard's eyes narrowed softly as Kaidan then placed them into his hands and closed Shepard's fingers around them as he squeezed softly.

"Liara and I were the main ones leading the search. She was with me when we found these and it was a major blow for the both of us. We spent that night drinking and retelling stories about you. It was our way of mourning…but then…"

Shepard's face expressed that he had a feeling about what he was about to be told. "Ah…" Kaidan looked away in shame, close to tears.

"We were drunk and reminiscing, but I remember she started to cry so I went to comfort her…and one thing lead to another…" Slowly, Shepard started to pull his hands away as he looked off to the side. "But I didn't mean for it to happen! All I kept thinking about was you and she was there…It was a stupid, selfish thing to do." This made Shepard's lips part in an attempt to say something, but instead he just groaned a bit and reclosed his mouth. "The next day, I wanted to just forget about it, but then she…" There was a pause as Kaidan tried to find the right words. "She wanted to keep going and knowing you were dead, I thought…why not, you know?"

"Right…I understand," Shepard finally said, trying to laugh it off. "I _was_ dead, technically."

"Wait a second, it's not like that Shepard. I'm not leaving you for her. We, well,_ I _broke it off a while ago…"

The Commander turned then to look Kaidan in the eyes. "What? So you're not…?"

"No! She…," Kaidan stopped to sigh as her ran a hand through to comb back his hair. "Liara started to act strangely. She was clingy and almost obsessive when it came to talking about you. We ended up back on Omega because Aria had given a lot of resources into recovering your body…and that's when she warned me."

"Warned you? About what?"

"When…Asari become, uh, close to others, they do this mind melding thing. It works both ways for them. They can share memories with you or…"

"Or?"

"Or they can experience your thoughts as their own. Aria warned me that the Shadow Broker being with a Spectre would be very beneficial for her."

Shepard made an angry, almost insulted face at that. "What? You're saying that Liara was only sleeping with you for Alliance secrets? Come on Kaidan, that a bit far-fetched!" Kaidan reluctantly shook his head.

"No, I'm not saying that at all. I wasn't worried about that, but her obsession with you grew worse and it dawned on me as to why." There was a pause as Kaidan moved to stand up to lean against the wall. He had to compose himself for this. "Shepard, she wasn't sleeping with me for military secrets. She was sleeping with me because all I ever thought about was you. She had a thing for you since we met her and I got to where she didn't." Shepard stood up as well, looking confused.

"She…Kaidan, are you serious?" The Major nodded.

"She began to talk about things that we did together, Shepard. Things you told me in private. Things you would do with me in bed. I can't even…" A hand ran through the front of Kaidan's hair again in frustration. "She would start doing things that you would do to me. In bed, I mean." Shocked, Shepard sat back down on the sofa. A part of him was surprised while another part was disgusted. "I finally confronted her about it, but she denied everything. At first."

"At first?" Shepard asked, looking down at the floor. Kaidan came back over to sit down again.

"Yeah, but she finally came clean. I broke it off and accepted the job teaching on Jupiter just to get away. I realized that I didn't want to replace you. I wasn't ready and I," he paused to look at Shepard as he reached out to touch his lover's face gently, coaxing it to look up at him. "I regret ever trying. Shepard, I am so, so sorry. I never meant to do anything like that." There was sincerity in Kaidan's sad eyes and breaking voice that started to calm Shepard down. Was the Commander even allowed to be mad at Kaidan for trying to move on? He had been dead once for two years and then again for almost another as far as anyone else knew. It was a hard choice to make.

"I…," Shepard began to say but stopped as he reached to his own face so that he could hold Kaidan's hand there. "I know I haven't been the most honest or loving person in the world, Kaidan. If I had my way, I wouldn't even be here right now. I would have kept you alone and in the dark just to keep you safe, so I can't really be mad if you moved on. I was kind of expecting you to have a normal life with a short wife and four fat Canadian kids…"

"Well, you are shorter than me."

"That's your damn hair!" They both gave a small laugh as Kaidan used his thumb to caress Shepard's face. Shepard smiled at the touch before leaning in to finally give the Major a soft kiss. It was the first time they had done so since being reunited.

"Oh…but…there is one thing." And to this Shepard sighed again.

"What now?"

"Me and Liara…I can't…" Kaidan said, looking away. His fingers were already playing with the Commander's longer hairs in the back. "She has to go back, Shepard. I can't be around her. It takes every ounce of strength I have not to do anything that I'll regret later." At this point, Shepard was sure that Kaidan was no longer talking about sex.

"Ah...," he said as he pulled away from the Major's face. "I see. So, what? You're saying that it's either you or her? You're making me choose?" The black and red eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Do you think you have that right?" It was a question that stung.

"Look, I'll always wait for you Shepard, but if she's here, I can't be." And the line had been drawn.

"Fuck." With that, Shepard stood up to pace back and forth in front of the still seated Spectre.

"I'm sorry, but this is how it needs to be. I'd ride with you to hell and back, but I can't have her around. I can't trust her anymore. Not after what she did and neither should you." Shepard groaned again as he sat on the bed directly in front of the sofa. He had a choice to make and he didn't want to make this call.


	18. The Defeated Major

So, he wasn't. In fact, the only thing Shepard was going to do at this point was to fall backwards on his sorely missed mattress until someone made him do otherwise. His eyes even closed in an attempt to shut out the world and to play dead. Kaidan, however, wasn't buying it. "Shepard," the Major called as he stood up to inspect the laid out body. "Come on, get up." The Biotic reached down to give the Commander a gentle push against his side, but Shepard had gone completely limp. "Shepard. Shepard, come on. I know you're not sleeping…," Kaidan smiled as he leaned over to caress noses with the big faker. This also caused Shepard to smile and to grab Kaidan's wrist to pull the rest of the Biotic down onto the bed where they quickly switched position. As Kaidan was on his back, Shepard was on top of him seated comfortably against the other man's groin in a straddling position.

"That was for earlier," said Shepard as he made a reference to their previous encounter of Kaidan pretending to be asleep before tossing the cloaked Commander onto the bed.

"Yeah, except I'm not going to throw a flashbang grenade at your face like you did to me."

"So, I may have overreacted…," Shepard said quietly as he leaned over to rest his forearms off to the sides of Kaidan's face. This brought his own face down close enough to gently rub noses again, and with a few gentle kisses against each other's lips, it didn't take long for that spark to once again be reignited. Shepard enjoyed being on top when he could, pressing his weight on top of Kaidan's muscled frame and grinding his erection against the other. Even with pants on, it was obvious to both of them that there was something going on down there. The kissing had gotten more intense as Shepard's fingers found their way into Kaidan's hair. The Major's hands had gone underneath the back of his lover's white t-shirt before making their way down to grab hips and cup cheeks. When Shepard finally pulled away to take off that damn shirt, Kaidan suddenly reached up to grab his wrists.

"Wait." Cocking an eyebrow, Shepard's arms stopped midway up his own torso, only getting a chance to expose his shaped abs.

"What?" Shepard asked, confused at the interruption.

"Just…wait a minute," sighed Kaidan as he pulled himself into an upright position with Shepard being forced to readjust himself. It was even more of a surprise to the Commander as Kaidan pulled both his arms and the t-shirt down back to his waist. "We can't do this."

"_What?" _Shepard's eyebrows twitched. "_Why?"_

"Not until you talk to Liara. I'm serious, Shepard. I can't stay here if she's going to remain on the ship." The hazel eyes looked desperate into Shepard's before looking away. "I just…I don't want to do anything if I'm going to have to leave." Trying to get back into the mood, Shepard leaned in to kiss the frustrated Major on the lips, but halted as Kaidan pulled his face away. "Shepard, don't." Glaring, the Commander finally pulled away and crawled off the bed entirely. Pacing back and forth, he rubbed his face where his beard should have been out of habit while nodding to himself.

"Fine, we'll do it your way," Shepard spoke as he moved to his desk behind the sofa. Hitting his laptop, he pushed the call button and waited.

"Yes, Shepard?" Liara's voice could be heard over the speakerphone.

"Can you come up to my cabin for a minute?" There was a pause as if she was considering the option.

"Yes, I'll be right up." After the call disconnected, Kaidan spoke up.

"Are you _crazy_?" he asked, obviously quite furious about what Shepard had just done. "I don't want to see her!" He stood up to leave, but Shepard's voice halted him in his tracks.

"No, you sit your ass back down. We're going to put an end right fucking now!" Coming closer, he moved in to grab the Biotic's arm. "You walk out that door, don't you bother coming back. Do you hear me?" Tense silence filled their stares at each other for an uncertain amount of time before Liara walked through the recently unlocked door. She was surprised to see both Shepard and Kaidan standing there, but was quick to notice their unhappy expressions.

"I see…," said Liara softly as the gazes turned to her. "I suppose it's safe to assume that Kaidan told you about what happened while you were gone." Shepard's expression softened at the sound of her voice as he nodded.

"Yeah," he said as he turned to look back at Kaidan. "Yeah, he did." Kaidan's hand came up to rub his own jawline as he turned away from them both and walked back towards the bed. While standing next to it, he only covered his eyes with that same hand and refused to speak. Shepard watched the Major for a moment, but soon turned his attention back to Liara. "So I guess it's true then? You and…him? Really?" Liara nodded quietly, keeping her face turned to the floor. "And that thing about you stealing memories? Was that true too?" Again, Liara nodded.

"Yes, but the first time was an accident. Asari…well," she paused while trying to find less vulgar words. "We connect by a mental link. You and I even connected briefly back on Earth. It works both ways. Kaidan's thoughts were so full of you that they overwhelmed me." Shepard came closer to her, though not in an imitating way. His voice spoke soft and sweet to her as his hands came to touch her elbows since Liara was practically hugging herself for comfort at this point. At his touch, she jumped almost out of fear as her shaking had gotten the better of her. Looking up, she was able to see his smile and it was enough to force the tears to roll from her eyes.

"No one's blaming you for that first time," her Commander said, but looked disappointed afterwards. "But why keep doing it?" The flushed blue face looked away as the right words got caught in Liara's throat.

"I…I've always…," she stammered in her confession from both embarrassment and shame. "But we never…,so when Kaidan kept thinking about you, it was almost as if…" Even without complete sentences, Shepard could tell where this was going.

"Ah," was all he managed to say as he pulled away, but after taking a step back, he was grabbed by his hands.

"But then it wasn't about you anymore," Liara exclaimed, first looking to Shepard before looking towards the back at Kaidan. "I just wanted to make _him_ happy." Shepard turned to look back at Kaidan as well, who was now alerted to Liara's new line of confession. The Major looked confused, mouthing _what_ as Shepard put the last piece of the puzzle together.

"So…," the Commander said as he turned back to Liara. "In the end, he was the only one who was still thinking about me? I see…" Liara nodded as she looked down again, quickly wiping her face with her fingers.

"That's right. It was wrong for me to be so invasive, but I thought that if I found that spark somehow, I could take his mind off you. I mean, you were _dead_, Shepard."

"So everyone keeps reminding me," Shepard sighed while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You do know what he wants me to do right? He wants me to ask you to leave the ship. I've been given a choice: either you go or he goes." Liara nodded as she took as step back and awaited Shepard's order. "But that's not something I'll ever ask one of my best friend to do."

"Shepard! That's!" Kaidan finally brought himself into the conversation only to get blocked by Shepard body as he approached. He soon got quiet after he was met with a deathly stare. Afterwards, the Commend shifted his gaze back to Liara who was looking up at him once again.

"Like I said, I would never ask one of my best friends to leave my ship and my crew. That's not something I'd ever do." In a sigh of relief, Liara managed a smile but it was short-lived.

"Thank you, Shepard. I…" she began, but was cut off.

"Which is why you're going to volunteer." The very line shocked Liara to her core.

"…What?" she asked as her confused voice was barely audible. Shepard straightened his posture and looked Liara dead in her frightened eyes.

"You're going to tell me that you'd be a better help to me as the Shadow Broker back in your office on Illium. That you're sorry that you can no longer accompany me on this journey, much like how you couldn't before when I went to take on the Collectors. That you have a lot of catching up to do." Liara stared blankly for a moment as Kaidan looked on, confused as well. "So, Liara? Was there something you wanted to tell me?" Even though the Major had his arms crossed earlier, he too moved to stand at-ease as Shepard did. Finally, Liara knew that she was outnumbered two to one.

"Yes," she began also standing up straight. "Shepard, I regret to inform you that I must return to Illium. There is some unfinished business there that I need to take care of before it gets out of control."

"Really? That's too bad, Liara. I sure could have used you on this mission," said Shepard in monotone.

"Yeah, that's really too bad, Liara," added Kaidan in the same tone of voice.

"Yes, well. I believe I can still be of help to you by tracking the movements of possibly indoctrinated groups. I missed the mining facility once before because I ignored the numbers, but I don't plan on letting that happen again." Shepard nodded as he gave a polite, but sad smile.

"Alright," he said as he gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Tell Joker to head that way. Good luck…and thanks." Liara gave a polite smile as well before she quickly turned to leave through the door. As the it closed behind her to leave Shepard and Kaidan alone once again, the Major let out a heavy sigh. Heading to the bed, he collapsed on top of the mattress with his head in his hands.

"I can't believe you pulled that off," he said to Shepard as he was walked over to. The Commander took a seat next to the Biotic, but only stared off into space. "Shepard? Shepard, are you alright?"

"Kaidan, you always question where my loyalties lie when it comes to you, you know that?" Shepard said as he finally glanced over in Kaidan's direction. "You want to hear the truth of it? Here it is: I was willing to be _alone_ fighting the Leviathans because _I_ made a stupid mistake that I didn't want _you_ to pay for by me trusting them, I just made one of my _best friends_ walk away from me because _you_ didn't want her around, I went and faced the Collector Base _by myself_ because _you_ didn't want to look at my face anymore, I put _you_ in that escape pod because I wanted to keep you to safe" He paused then as he stood to look down at the Major in both sadness and rage. "And I let Ashley die next to a bomb even though you didn't even _notice_ how much or how long I've loved you. Don't ever question my loyalty again, Kaidan. You might not like the answer after today." With that, Shepard pulled off his shirt in frustration and tossed it onto the floor as he headed to the bathroom.

Kaidan looked stunned in silence as he watched Shepard storm off. It was the first time he had been called out like that. Actually, that entire rant was the first time Kaidan had heard most of those things out loud. As he began to take of his boots, the Major quietly thought to himself. He had always assumed that Shepard left Ashley behind because of the feelings they shared back then, but that's the first time Kaidan had been told specifically…and maybe shared feelings was also an exaggeration. Sure, Kaidan liked Shepard back then. There may have been a few lingering glances and smiles between the two of them, but nothing ever came from it. There was Liara, of course, and also Ashley who served as a buffer or as a deterrent, depending on how you looked at it. Kaidan had an attraction to them both at first and why wouldn't he? He was a young, attractive, healthy, straight male. He knew that women found him attractive and had an attraction to them as well. Still, who was he compared to Shepard? The hero who made most of the female crew fawning at the very sight of him? If only they noticed that the only one Shepard looked back at was him. He almost felt bad for them.

_Yeah, Shepard was always looking at me, wasn't he?_ Be it on the original Normandy while fighting the Geth or the desperate attempt Shepard gave despite Kaidan shutting him down on Horizon during the Collector attacks, Shepard's eyes always looked at Kaidan in the same way that all the women would look at Shepard. Even after being apart for so long, fighting alongside him back on Mars after all that time, it was if nothing had changed. "I'm a complete fool," Kaidan muttered to himself as he stood up to head over to the bathroom door. It was shut, which caused him to knock and yell through the metal. "Shepard? Shepard, open up!" There was no answer, but Kaidan could hear the shower running. He had assumed the door was locked and was meaning to press the button multiple times, which is why he looked surprised after having to only press it once. Inside, there was fog of steam as Shepard stood naked under the hot cascading water. He had his arm pressed to the wall with his head resting upon it as he looked down at the drain below. The skin of the knuckles of his right hand was also red and peeling from punching at the shower wall behind him. Even Kaidan noticed the new dent that had been created there.

When he saw Kaidan out of the corner of his eyes, Shepard looked up to see the barefooted Biotic standing in the doorway. There was a glare at first, but his eyes widened as the Major walked right into the shower with him while still fully dressed. "The hel—, " but Shepard's question was cut off as he was forcibly kissed. Kaidan pinned him to the wall underneath the shower head and continued to kiss the other man despite becoming completely soaked in the process.

"I love you," Kaidan finally said after breaking the kiss to speak. The normally neat salt and pepper hair had fallen flat against his forehead, showing off how long it actually was in the front. The black t-shirt he wore clung to his muscular upper body while his pants drooped a bit down from the water weight. Despite the awkward situation, his eyes were fixed firmly into the set in front of him. "I'm an idiot, I know that and…woah!" In an attempt to step back, Kaidan ended up accidently slipping on the mini bottle of liquid soap that Shepard had carelessly left on the shower floor. Sitting on his ass, Kaidan looked completely defeated underneath the running water with Shepard standing nude and dripping wet over him. The Commander couldn't help but snicker. Kneeling down, he reached to pull off Kaidan's black t-shirt. After wringing it out over Kaidan's head with a smile, it was tossed to the other side of the bathroom. As the water splashed over the Major's already dripping hair, Kaidan could only laugh at himself as well. He did come running in there half-cocked and this is what he deserved.

Looking up, he finally noticed the type of smile that Shepard had a smile on his face. It was a soft, press-lipped one that meant the apology had not fallen onto deaf ears. Reaching up, Kaidan placed his hand on Shepard's smooth cheek, caressing it with his thumb as they shared a moment of silence. It was sweet, but interrupted as Shepard gave the hand a push away so that he could get to the Biotic's pants better. Sitting there, Kaidan was really helpless to protest, not that he really wanted to, as Shepard undid his belt and pulled everything off along with his pair of soaked boxers. There wasn't even an attempt to wring those out before they were tossed on top of the shirt in the corner.


	19. Intermission III (NSFW)

So there Kaidan sat, bare-assed on the warm floor as the water from the shower was mostly being blocked from hitting him directly in the face by Shepard's back. He was being crawled on top of, his arms going around Shepard's toned body as the Commander straddled him once again. This time, there wasn't any protest about being kissed. In fact, there wasn't any talking going on at all. Their bodies grinded against each other as they enjoyed the slippery warm feeling of the running water beading against their skin. Shepard had a hand to the wall as Kaidan was leaned back at an angle with the somewhat dry skin of his shoulder acting as an adhesive so they wouldn't slip down entirely. Their erections met and were rubbed together, at first by just the natural movement of Shepard's hips, but then by Kaidan's hand as he took hold of both the best he could. Shepard moaned at this, breaking the deep kissing to free his mouth so that he could bite down on Kaidan's shoulder instead. The Major kept his other strong arm wrapped around Shepard's body as he took in both the sounds and scents of the Commander's youthful arousal.

Shepard did seem more sensitive like this, his body twitching at nearly every touch. Even the hand that was around his back and side tingled more than it usually did. He could swear that Kaidan was using biotics or something, but there wasn't a blue light in sight. He blamed his new youthful body; a side effect that he assumed was from being mended after the Crucible explosion. All Shepard knew was that his beard didn't grow in nearly as fast as the hair on top of his head did and that he was about to cum from just a handjob in the shower. The hand that he had against the wall made a fist as his muscles all tensed up at once upon a release big enough to coax Kaidan's fingers and manhood in the sticky white fluid. While surprised at first, Kaidan soon felt proud of himself. There Shepard was slumped on top of him in a panting mess while he was still rock-hard and ready to go.

"Well, well," Kaidan said as he attempted to flick off the semen from his fingers but it wasn't coming off anytime soon. With Shepard still leaning over the way he was, it seemed like a better idea anyway to use it for something more productive. The messed digits worked their way underneath Shepard's body and spread the juices around the puckered opening instead. At first, Shepard clenched at the sudden invasion as he put his other hand against the wall in front of him. However, at Kaidan's persistence of his other hand to spread a cheek apart so that the fingers could prod until they pushed pass the outer ring, along with some very sensual kissing to Shepard's chest and stomach, convinced the Commander to raise his body up a bit more as so Kaidan could have his way. Looking down, he could only see the wavy head of wet black and white hair moving around as his lower half was being smelled, savored, and touched.

With the fingers more easily slipping in and out, Kaidan pulled his hand away to take Shepard by the hips and lowered the quivering man down. He enjoyed watching Shepard's flushed and aroused face, something he never got to see clearly with the usual hair stubble in the way. Shepard's new younger features were also very nice to look at from this angle. He wasn't as bulky to hold anymore either and the young skin felt firm and fresh, especially back where Kaidan was cupping as his manhood slipped inside without much resistance. The length was worked in slowly as Kaidan gave a playful spanks to encourage Shepard's moving. Kaidan relaxed with a leg spread out while the other was bent at the knee for support. Shepard kept rocking his hips up and down, controlling the speed and tightness as he pleased. As Shepard kept bouncing, Kaidan simply held him close with his mouth attached to whatever was in front of him, be it a nipple to gently suck and nibble on or licking water that dripped down Shepard's chest. The spanking also continued, although light, the water made it sting pleasantly on both Shepard's bottom and on Kaidan's palm.

"God, Shepard," whispered the Biotic close to climax and repositioned them so that he was on his knees now, trusting into Shepard's C-curved body as water poured over Shepard's head and chest. The Commander had to keep his head down in order not to be drowned by the shower. His legs were elevated just enough to give Kaidan room to maneuver as he braced himself up on his forearms. His erection was already grabbed once again as the Biotic on top of him massaged the tip while jerking him off. Kaidan's louder moans soon peaked as Shepard became filled up by his lover's climax. He too also cried out as a second orgasm came out from him, spraying his chest and stomach with a few quick jets of white. They panted together for a few moments before Kaidan pulled out with an uncomfortable hiss. Shepard also scooted back to the opposite wall and blindly felt up for the control panel that cut the water off.

Blowing the water from his face, he ran a hand though the jet black wet hair to get it off of his forehead with a laugh. Kaidan did something similar as he sat reclined against the other wall with his own hair. The Major stood up first, walking to the closet to grab a towel and quickly dried his face and head off before tying it around his waist. He then got a second towel, walking over to Shepard with an extended hand to help him up. This time, Shepard actually accepted the help and was yanked up carefully. Kaidan took it upon himself to dry Shepard's head off and wipe away any semen that was still on his chest. He then moved to dry the man off entirely. The Commander gave a laugh but just stood there before taking the towel away and tied it around his waist. He then grabbed a fresh one to dry off the rest of his upper body before helping Kaidan out. As he dried off, Kaidan's longer hair, the Major stopped him so that he could steal a romance kiss. Afterwards, even Shepard felt a bit bashful about it. He blushed uncontrollably, which made Kaidan do the same.

"That…was amazing," the Major said to the flushed man. "Remind me again why we never did it in shower like that before?" Shepard only shrugged with a laugh.

"Probably because we couldn't fit like that before now?" he replied while walking to the steamed over mirror. It was wiped with his hand, giving him enough of a reflection to sigh. "I'm sure you noticed. I'm not the same as I was when I left…" Shepard sounded sad about that. A good portion of his muscle mass was gone and God, did he miss his beard. Kaidan frowned at his tone, but came up to hug him from behind anyway.

"It's nothing bad, Shepard. That doesn't matter to me." Secretly, Kaidan was actually enjoying the younger body very much, but he wasn't about to say that out loud. It felt nice to be the 'bigger man' as it were, but his sentiments weren't exactly oblivious to Shepard either. What use to be a minor difference in appearance of a few years apart was now looking to be as if Kaidan were at least ten years his senior. "Come on, let's go to bed for a bit. You've got to be as exhausted as I am." Indeed, Kaidan was rocking Shepard's body back and forth with his head rested against the back of the man's shoulder.

"Yeah…come on. A few hours of shut-eye couldn't hurt. It's a long flight back to Ilium without a relay to jump through."


	20. Who Wants to Live Forever?

Shepard managed to get away from Kaidan long enough to go back into the main bedroom. While Shepard stopped at the closet, the Major headed directly to the bed and dropped the towel to the floor. While Shepard was in the middle of putting on a pair of boxers, Kaidan laughed at him. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, stopping Shepard before he even got a leg in.

"Putting on underwear?" Shepard said. Kaidan just shook his head.

"Yeah, I don't think so. Get your ass in this bed." Chuckling, Shepard gave the boxers a toss back into the closet. He walked to Kaidan, who stood there pointing at the mattress. Smiling deviously, the Commander crawled in first to lie on his back with an extended arm out to the side. Kaidan came in second and fixed the blanket to cover their nude bodies before curling up around Shepard. It felt nice, warm, and most of all, safe. Safety was a feeling that neither the Major nor his Commander got to enjoy very often. "Shepard?"

"Hm?" Shepard asked while idly twirling Kaidan's wet hair with his fingers. Sitting up, Kaidan moved to lean over Shepard's face, touching noses for a bit with a smile before starting to kiss him again. It was obvious that he wasn't ready to stop yet.

Kyo and Shiro had separated for few hours as Kyo went to go take tequila shots with Cortez and Vega down in the hanger, while Shiro had been conversing with Liara after she returned from Shepard's cabin. While not the best person on relationship advice, he did calm her down by talking about her work instead. She was the Shadow Broker, after all, and with Shiro, Legion, and EDI now feeding her information, she felt more focused on the bigger picture in regards to the new Leviathan threat versus her feelings for Kaidan. Still, it was of little comfort that she was being forced to leave the ship, and she eventually took her leave to be alone for a while. Miranda still refused to talk directly to the ex-Agent and instead went to talk to Liara privately.

Shiro was fine with being avoided by her and instead opted to go take another shower as he still felt dirty from Rannoch. He was only in there for a few minutes before Kyo stumbled in a bit drunk.

The Sergeant stopped to yank off his shirt and kicked off his boots as he sang rather loudly to himself. It was an older song; at least Shiro thought it was. The words were poppy and vulgar.

"_Girl I gotta go! I'm finished with the show! If you wanna fuck me, I won't say no!_ _Touchin' on my! While I'm touchin' on your! You know that we are gonna fuck cuz' I don't give a f…_oh. Hey, Shiro," Kyo said when he noticed that he wasn't alone after he removing his pants and underwear.

"…Hello…," Shiro spoke back almost timidly as Kyo banged the panel to the shower controls to get the hot water started. It was curious to watch the younger man soak his messy black hair while continuing his loud singing in the stall next to him. Kyo's clear voice echoed off the walls as he pranced around a bit while washing his body. He even started to air guitar at some points to the music that was obviously playing in his head.

"_Tell your boyfriend, if he says he's got beef, that's I'm a vegetarian and I ain't fucking scared of him! She wants to touch me, woohoo! She wants to love me, woohoo! She'll never leave woohoo!" _He then walked over to Shiro's stall to dance around him. "_Don't trust a ho! Never trust ho! Won't trust a ho! Cuz' a ho won't trust me!" _Was that advice or song lyrics? Laughing, Kyo finally stopped singing when he noticed just how stiff Shiro's body had become. "Ah I'm sorry. I had some shots down with the guys and it kind of went to my head. We were singing and stuff…sorry." Finally moving again, Shiro nodded.

"It's fine, I just...," he paused when he noticed how he was being looked at. It was only for a second before Kyo turned his eyes away. Was it his white hair again? Or his implants? Kyo had already made several remarks about how weird they looked compared to other humans. Now conscious about his appearance, Shiro looked down, twirling the ends of his long, wet hair on his fingertip. "Sorry if it bothers you so much…," he mumbled before turning his back to his friend. Kyo looked once again, his eyes scanning the row of silver and blue implants down Shiro's back.

"It doesn't bother me anymore," he said reaching out to touch the one located on the back of the other man's neck. It was a silver ring with the gem-like sapphire blue center that felt cold to the touch, even with the hot water running. It also made Shiro quiver as if he could actually feel the finger graze it. This surprised the Sergeant, who quickly pulled his hand away with a blush. He had no idea that Shiro could feel…well. That. "I uh…," he started to stammer, looking around for something to change the mood. "Hey, let me wash your hair okay?" Kyo felt saved by panel behind them that was labeled _shampoo _and_ conditioner_ built into the back wall. It was the men's bathroom after all, so there wasn't a need for anything beyond generic products. Moving to the panel, he gave the dispenser button a few pushes to get a handful of the smell-good cream into his palm before coming back over. With both set of fingers, he forced the goo into Shiro's head until it bubbled over.

Shiro stood there obediently as Kyo scrubbed his head gently, but a part of him was enjoying it. It was a bit fun to be pampered and fussed over like this. It was definitely a new experience as he never had anyone outside of Shepard even care about his well-being before, but those were the feelings of someone he considered family. Kyo was not family, but there was still an undeniable closeness between them. Before the ex-Agent had time where he could think much else about it, he was suddenly directed back under his shower stream. The soap was rinsed out rather quickly and with his eyes still closed, a towel was draped over his head. Kyo took his time drying the head off with many ruffled shakes before pulling the towel down around Shiro's shoulders. "And done," Kyo smiled while looking at his handy work. Shiro's hair was fluffed to be sure, causing the Sergeant to laugh a bit. "Okay, wait. I can fix this. Let me grab a brush and…"

"I don't have a brush," Shiro said as he tried to smooth it out with his hands. It kind of worked before hair was pulled into a messy ponytail.

"Oh? Well, we'll have to get one then. We'll be docking at Ilium soon right? We'll go down and pick something up, okay? My treat." Kyo then went to grab a fresh towel to first wrap Shiro up in like a burrito before grabbing one for his own waist. "Let's…go get dressed," he insisted as he shooed the ex-Agent out of the door, heading towards their bunk room across the hall. As the Normandy docked at Ilium once again, Liara, Shiro, Kyo, Vega, and Cortez were all waiting to get a bit of shore leave. Shepard and Kaidan opted to remain in their room, as did Miranda who was hell-bent on reclaiming her former office. Joker and EDI stayed on board as well as Joker had promised to have a nice long chat with his girlfriend when given the chance. Legion also stayed to help Miranda as requested. Once in the main thoroughfare of the planet's shopping arcade, Liara said goodbye to her former crew. This left Cortez and Vega alone with _the new guys_. While having bonded well with Kyo already, the two still weren't sure what to make of the ever quiet Shiro.

"So," Vega said trying to break the ice. "You must get a kick out of being carded when at a bar, huh?"

"Smooth," mocked Cortez.

"What? I'm just trying to start a conversation," Vega laughed heartily. "I'm standing in the presence of greatness here. This is Shepard's old man…uh…sorta." Cortez just rolled his eyes as he put an arm around Shiro's shoulders.

"Don't mind him. He's an idiot. I'm Steve Cortez, by the way. We haven't been formally introduced," Cortez said while leading Shiro away from the group. Both Vega and Kyo made faces at that before hurrying to catch up.

"Yes, I'm aware who you are, Lieutenant Cortez," Shiro nodded to him politely.

"Please just Cortez is fine or Steve if you prefer." The Pilot managed to turn up the charm just enough to come off as kind, but not aggressive. Shiro just nodded again with the same neutral expression.

"Cortez, then."

"And I'm James Vega. James…or just…Vega. Just don't call me Jimmy," Vega interrupted as he hurried to Shiro's other side. The ex-Agent suddenly felt sandwiched between the two men as he was being ushered along into the local bar on the far end of the hallway and up a flight of stairs. Kyo was close behind, though he seemed preoccupied by something. He had mentioned something about being on Ilium before, but didn't go into exact details. Inside the bar was nearly a full house with some live entertainment in the back. Vega was quick to move to the bar where a throaty-voiced Asari asked them what they wanted.

"What are you drinking tonight, _Bonita_?" Vega asked with a stupid grin. Both Cortez and Shiro glared at the nickname.

"_Bonita_, Vega? Seriously?" Cortez spoke out in obvious disapproval while shaking his head. "That's a bit…,even for you."

"What? He looks like a _Bo-ni-ta_ with that face and hair of his. You don't mind, do you man? It's just a nickname." Shiro wanted to protest, but stopped himself.

"It's…fine," he instead muttered while looking around the room. Kyo had left his side, which was very odd for him. The Sergeant had instead posted against a wall with his arms crossed and eyes fixed on the far side of the room. On the other end of the bar was a small stage show featuring live entertainment. Right now, there was a human female singer performing to a crowd of Krogans, Turians, and a few Asari with maybe one or two Quarians. Shiro couldn't make out the entire audience from this angle, but Kyo had kept his distance. His face had also lost the smile it had earlier as he stared with malice at the performance. While Vega and Cortez were busy being preoccupied over which drink to order, Shiro snuck away to see what was so distracting that Kyo had forgotten about him. At first, he stood by his side hoping to get his attention. Rocking back and forth didn't seem to work nor did being close enough to even touch arms. Finally, he spoke up.

"Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?" Kyo asked, apparently having noticed Shiro a while ago but never acknowledged it.

"The stage? Performing I mean. Do you miss it?" Shiro clarified, looking at Kyo for a response. Still, not making eye contact, Kyo only shook his head.

"No, being on stage was never something I actually liked. Performing with my friend is what it was all about, but he's gone now." Again there was silence that Shiro eventually tried to awkwardly break again.

"She's not very good, is she?" To this, Kyo gave a sarcastic, bitter laugh.

"No, she never was very good." When the set ended, the girl gave a bow in her sparkly, short cocktail dress and turned to leave the stage through the curtain behind her. Afterwards, Kyo finally stood up straight and headed to the bar in a hurry. Pushing past the two Lieutenants, he leaned over the counter to speak to the barkeep. "I need to backstage. Official Alliance business."

"Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I heard that line before, pal. Backstage is for performers only, so unless you plan on getting your hot ass up there to sing and dance, no means no." Banging his fists on the counter, Kyo then tried to think of a plan.

"Wait, that's open mic right?"

"Yeah, what of it?" the Asari then asked as she was not intimidated at all by the fist pounding on her countertop.

"Then I'll sing. Sign me up."

"Man, you must really have it hard up for that human who screeches like a Krogan baby." She moved to duck under the counter and pulled out a datapad. "If you're willing to embarrass yourself for a bit of action, who am I to judge?" Kyo took the pad to scan in his name in.

"Alright, Kyo! You're gonna rock the house DOWN!" Vega shouted while clapping his hands. Cortez had to laugh about that, though in a calmer manner, he took Kyo's shoulder and pulled him off to the side.

"So, you really gonna do this? You got the hots for that girl already?" he whispered, but Kyo just shook his head.

"No it's not…"

"You're up next kid, move it or lose it," the bartender called out.

"I…gotta go…," he said as he parted from the group to be taken behind the bar to a backdoor.

Backstage, Kyo's eyes scanned for the mysterious woman, but he couldn't find her before he was put on the staircase that led up to the stage. Outside, a large red and gold Krogan wearing a black tux with a red bowtie spoke up in an old-fashion standing microphone with a datapad in hand. "Up next," he began to read carefully. "We have a great treat for you…Oh? Well, this is a surprise. Ehem, from the once popular band from Earth, we have Kyo Takashi, former lead singer of Otherside. Huh, someone with talent for once. Well, here he is folks." Beckoned onto stage, Kyo walked out calmly. It surprised a few people that he was in N7 armor, but the muttering died down with the lights. Vega and Cortez had grabbed Shiro to find a table in the pit as the Singer stood there at the microphone. With a small smile, he laughed a bit, taking it in hand.

"Yeah, so I have no idea what I'm singing?" he said with a smile as he turned to the Krogan who walked off stage.

"Geesh, didn't you read the contest? It's _Inspirational Earth_ themed! Humans don't know your own damn songs!"

"Inspirational…Earth? Is today a holiday?" Kyo joked again, getting a laugh from the audience.

"It's Commander Shepard's birthday!" yelled an Asari from the audience. Shiro looked shocked for a moment as both Vega and Cortez turned to him. He just shrugged since he never bothered to note the date since coming out of stasis.

"Right, so…Commander Shepard…He was a guy that didn't stop no matter what, right?" Kyo smiled as he kept his amazingly calm stage presence. "So I'll be signing an old Earth song by another man who died before his time. This is '_Don't Stop Me Now_' by Queen." Clearing his throat at first, he finally gave the cue for the music to start. His voice instantly harmonized with the slow piano that began to play. Once the music picked up, he took the microphone off its stand to walk around the stage with. The backup vocals were provided by a recording, but they allowed for his voice to sing over the main lyrics. Lights twinkled to the beat as the natural performer reeved up the audience through gestures and pointing at some of the ladies near the front row. They reacted as girls as fangirls typically did as his other shows while the males cheered at being pointed at when being told that Kyo wanted '_to make a supersonic man out of'_ them. The final lyrics were simple vocal rifts performed until the music faded away and ended. As if coming down from a high, Kyo returned to the center stage and returned the microphone to the stand. He gave a wave before moving to quietly walk away, but was blocked by the Krogan. The audience was still cheering for an encore, but Kyo was hesitant to stay any longer.

"Wasn't that great, folks?" said the well-dressed Krogan as he put a heavy arm around Kyo's shoulder. "How about another song, kid?"

"Well, I don't really…"

"YEAH MAN, SING ANOTHER!" shouted Vega as he cheered from his seat. Shiro had been quiet the entire time, completely enamored by the performance. Sure, Kyo had sung around him lots of times before, but _that _was something he had never seen before.

"Look kid, sing another and I'll give you whatever you want. I've got a dancing Hanar after you! I need something to keep people here," whispered the announcer as his claw hand covered the microphone's tip.

"Give me access to Maya Atorti's room and you've got a deal," Kyo whispered back.

"Got a thing for her too , eh? Fair enough," the Krogan agreed before he took his claw off the so he could speak to the audience once again. "SO WE HAVE OURSELVES AN ENCORE!" he yelled afterwards and walked off the stage while clapping.

Clearing his throat, Kyo thought for a minute before speaking. "We all lost someone in this war. We had friends die. Family. Children. Lovers. My best friend and band mate David Rogers, he…" "There was a genuinely sad pause. "He didn't make it. We were on Earth when the Reapers hit and I made it to the shuttle, but then he went back for someone he cared about. Thing is, who he went after didn't care about him too much, but that didn't stop him. That was the type of guy he was. He gave his life for someone who didn't give a damn about him. He was a true hero and this was his favorite song. I never liked it honestly, but …" Kyo stopped to laugh a bit about it. "Well, this is dedicated to all those heroes who aren't here with us today. It's called, '_Who Wants to Live Forever'_."

The lights went dark as the slow and melancholy music began to fill the room. It was a drastic change from the previous song that celebrated life. The lyrics stung everyone in their own way. Those who had someone to curl up with were sad at the thought of losing them. Those who had lost someone, like Cortez, sat quietly as a few slow tears slid down their cheeks.

Kyo closed his eyes as he channeled the memories of how many times he heard this song against his will. How he had only memorized the lyrics because he'd been coaxed into singing it while David would play the music in the background. At the end of the song, Kyo stood there quietly as the music faded out and the overhead lights came back on. The applause was slow, at first, as the audience began to recover enough to notice that it was over. Even Vega had wet cheeks as he clapped as hard as he could at the end it. Cortez did the same, but Shiro did not. In fact, he wasn't even at the table anymore.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following song were used in this fic: _Touchin' On My/DONTTRUSTME _by 3OH!3 and _Don't Stop Me Now/Who Wants to Live Forever_ by Queen.**


	21. The Artificial Limb

Kaidan was curled up around his pillow on the bed wearing only a clean pair of tight-fitting black boxers. The blanket that was on the bed once upon a time was now in a pile off to the side of the mattress. When the light clicked on overhead, his face twisted and buried itself into the white pillowcase. Shepard had just emerged from the bathroom wearing a pair of red boxers with white stripes down the sides. There was also a white towel draped over his head that he pulled down to his shoulders. After walking towards the bed, he climbed carefully up on top of his sleepy lover to whisper in an exposed ear. "Kaidan. Kaidan…,"Shepard cooed lovingly as he nosed the shell. Kaidan only groaned, trying to drown him out.

"Five more minutes…," the Major mumbled as he continued to nuzzle the pillow.

"You've be out for nearly twelve hours now. It's time to get up." At least that was enough to faze Kaidan into at least open his eyes a bit as he turned to look at Shepard.

"Twelve hours? I haven't slept like that in ages…"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Shepard chuckled as he got off the bed to return to the bathroom. Rubbing his face, Kaidan forced himself to sit up. The hand almost immediately moved from rubbing his eyes to holding his lower back as he hissed.

"Argh! Damnit John!" Shepard laughed audibly from the other room before coming out with two glasses of water. He handed one over to the sore man before sitting down on the edge of the bed with his own.

"What? You should be used to that by now," he snickered before snipping with a grin. Kaidan downed half of his glass before speaking again.

"Well, it's been awhile for me alright? You didn't have to be so damn rough."

"You weren't complaining when you were panting underneath me or when you came so hard that you passed out right there."

"I was caught up in the moment!" Kaidan blushed as the hand continued to rub his back. "Speaking of which…when did I put on clothes?"

"I put them on you after I toweled you off."

"What? Where was I?"

"Completely knocked out."

"Huh," Kaidan shrugged as he finished his water. Shepard took the glass from him and got up to go put them both on the coffee table. "Wait, are we still docked on Ilium?" Shepard gave a nod and returned to the bed to snuggle up on the Major's side.

"The crew took a bit of shore leave, but they haven't checked in yet. Should we call them?" Kaidan gave a nod.

"Probably a good idea considering Vega is the commanding officer. Ha, I bet they haven't even left the bar yet."

"Or he bet our shuttle pilot in a poker game and is desperately trying to win him back."

"God, don't even joke about that Shepard," snickered a still visibly sore Kaidan who shifted his weight to lie back against Shepard's chest. The Commander put an arm around him after tapping at his own omni-tool to make a video call to his father. It beeped, and beeped, and beeped some more, but there was no reply. Annoyed, Shepard then called the new Sergeant, but automatically got a disconnection notice.

"The hell?" he said out loud before finally calling Vega himself.

"Hello?" Vega said as his face popped up on the digital monitor. "Oh….hey Commander…"

"Don't 'Hey Commander' me, Lieutenant. Where the hell are you guys?"

"Uh," Vega paused while looking around. "We're on Ilium…still."

"…Yes, I am aware of that, but why?"

"Well, uh…," Vega cleared his throat. There was then noise in the background of a Salarian doctor speaking about triage.

"…Vega. Are you in the hospital?" Shepard asked as Kaidan looked from his resting position and just rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm not in the hospital. Uh, personally, you know?"

"Uh huh," spoke Shepard in disbelief. "Well then who is? And why isn't my dad answering his comm…?"

"Oh, your old man is fine, Loco. He just…uh…didn't want to be disturbed."

"Vega, I'm going to give you to the count of three to stop dicking around and tell me what's going on. One. Two…Two and a half…" There was silence as Vega's lips pressed together. He then licked them over as if they were dry.

"Maybe I should just show you, yeah? Hold up." There was shuffling as Vega stood up to walk down a hallway and gave a knock on a door. He was yelled at but let himself in anyway. It was a shaky camera but Shepard made out a hospital room with his father sitting on a stool at the Kyo's bedside. "See, Shepard? Your old man is fine…but uh. There was a bit of an accident."

"Accident?" Kaidan interrupted. "What the hell does he mean by…Oh my God!" he then exclaimed as he pointed at Shepard's screen. The Commander squinted to clarify exactly what he was seeing before staring bewildered after he made out what it was. Kyo was definitely in a hospital bed as his father lovingly attended to soldering the Sergeant's new synthetic arm. Vega gave a nervous laugh as he quickly left the room before speaking into the video again.

"So…yeah. That's kind of it."

"WHAT THE FUCK, VEGA?!" Kaidan practically screamed as he sat up now. "You're gone less than a day and the new guy loses a FUCKING ARM?!" Apparently the shock had suddenly made his lower back feel infinitely better.

"Hey! Don't look at me!" Vega yelled back defensively. "That's between him and Shepard's crazy old man!"

"Jesus!" Kaidan sighed as he collapsed back onto the bed. Shepard just groaned a bit as he tried to make sense of the situation.

"Okay, start from the beginning. What exactly happened?" he asked, but Vega only shrugged.

"They aren't talking. Me and Cortez were at the bar when Kyo won this karaoke thing. Next thing I know, the curtain goes up and they're both gone. We spent hours looking only to get caught up in some Batarian smuggling explosion with them smack dab in the middle of it."

"Batarian smuggling? Did they stop something?" Shepard continued as he cocked an eyebrow. Vega just shrugged again.

"I don't know, man. This guy saying that he was Kyo's friend ran up to us saying that the Sarge saved his family or something, but some damn armored truck exploded with them on it!" Vega frowned. "Your dad managed to pull Kyo out the fire, but his arm was messed. I mean, it was fucked, Shepard. Doctors had to remove what was left, so your pops here took this Geth arm and modified it like something I ain't ever seen before. He's got some mad tech skills, it's crazy. Funny thing is, the damn thing works."

"…You're telling me that my dad modified Geth tech to work as a human prosthetic? Where the hell did he even find a Geth arm?"

"Didn't say and he looked like he was about to kill me if I were to keep asking," shrugged Vega again. "I see where you got your crazy from." Shepard remained silent for a moment was he rubbed the space between his eyebrows and nose. He wasn't sure if he was even mad or surprised by this. Kaidan remained silent as well as he pushed himself to sit up properly and attempted to stand but Shepard grabbed his hand before he could walk off.

"Vega, are they discharging the Sergeant anytime soon?"

"Uh," mumbled the Lieutenant. "Hold on, let me ask. Hey! When are you letting my boy out?" asked Vega to an Asari doctor who had walked by.

"Your boy? I'm sorry, are you his father?" she asked obviously confused as she typed into a datapad.

"Uh, no. I mean I'm his friend. Why? Do I look like his father?" Vega then smiled. "Are you into single dads?" The Asari just shot him a nasty look before pulling up the information.

"Ah, yes. He's free to go at any time. Is there anything else?"

"Uh, no…No that's it. Thank you." She nodded to him before taking her leave. Vega watched yet another one get away but turned back to his omni-tool. "Yeah, Shepard? He's free to leave whenever."

"Then get your asses back here for debriefing. That's an order." Vega sighed at that.

"Yes, sir. We're on our way. Vega out." Shepard pulled Kaidan back down to the bed after the call disconnected to curl up against him. The Major laughed a bit, petting the black feathery hair of his distressed lover. A few hours passed before the crew returned to the ship. Dr. Chakwas buzzed up to the captain chamber to inform Shepard and Kaidan, who had never left the bed, that everyone had arrived back to the ship in one piece.

Sort of.

When the pair entered the med bay, only Shiro and Kyo were in room. Shiro sat at Kyo's bedside while the Sergeant sat perfectly still as the Biotic soldered the remaining exposed parts of Kyo's shoulder with a protective metal alloy covering.

"Lift your arm now. Let's see if that helps take the weight off," Shiro ordered and Kyo obeyed, rotating his mechanical arm and wiggled his fingers.

"Yeah, that's a lot better. Just doing the forearm strained my biceps. Thanks," Kyo smiled as the overly-familiar friends blissfully ignored the company they now had. Shepard suddenly became very disturbed at how long their gaze lingered.

"Ahem!" he coughed loudly to interrupt the moment that his father and the young singer shared. This caused both of their faces to look flatly at him. Kaidan, however, was quickly fascinated about the arm and pushed passed Shepard to get a better look. It was Geth for sure; however, there were four fingers and a thumb to look like a human hand. He could hear the mechanisms as Kyo moved it about and was amazed at how smoothly it operated. There were no signs of strain and no cheap jerky movement like he had imagined. The Major couldn't help but poke at it, not sure what to think. He poked a second time trying to get it to react.

"I can't feel a thing, in case you're wondering," Kyo laughed as he poked Kaidan back playfully. The Biotic jumped away uneasily. "It's like wearing heavy armor all the time. I'm actually used to it, so it's not that big of a deal."

"Yeah, but you can't take it off…," said Kaidan wearily as he continued to stare in suspicion. "How the hell…? What exactly happened? I've been in plenty of firefights and explosions, but I never lost a damn limb before." Kyo looked to Shiro, who answered for him instead.

"It's not important," the other Biotic said as he gave a firm look to Shepard. "It's over and done with. It was just an accident and won't interfere with the mission."

"What the hell do you mean, 'It's not important'?" Shepard protested. "You don't get to decide that! I'm in charge here and…"

"Leave it alone, Sol. I said it's not important." Shiro's voice suddenly became very fatherly.

"…I'm going back to my room to rest…," Kyo muttered softly as he slid off the bed in an attempt to escape the situation.

"No, you stay right there and answer…," Shepard began but was once again cut off by his dad.

"That's fine, Kyo. I'll meet you in there."

"What? I said…"

"I said it's fine, Sol."

"That…"

"Solaris Shepard." With his real full name being called like that, Shepard just made a face. There was silence, which was more than enough for Kyo to nod to Shiro and take his leave. Kaidan watched him go before turning his gaze back to a viable standoff between his lover and his potential father-in-law. With Kyo gone, Shepard spoke up again.

"You're not going to continue to undermine me on my own damn ship, dad." Shiro only glared.

"Shepard, I'm over twice your age and changed your piss-drenched sheets for years. I did the best I could with what I had and made a lot of mistakes, but I never taught you to be a bloody arsehole. I'm doing what I can to make up for leaving you like I did, but you're going to have to trust me. Kyo didn't do anything wrong."

"Maybe he's right, Shepard. I'm sure Kyo will tell us when he's ready," Kaidan said as he put a hand on Shepard's shoulder. The Commander turned to look at him, surprised by this. At Kaidan's urging, Shepard just nodded.

"Fine. Fine. Whatever," the Commander finally sighed

"Thank you," Shiro smiled to his son and gave a grateful look to the Major. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I should check on him…so…" Shepard took a step to the side to unblock the doorway and watched his father hurry out of it. In truth, Shiro hated fighting with his son, as there was enough guilt between them already. Still, he was more worried about Kyo right now than the semi-hurt ego of his adult son. Around the corner, Shiro walked into the bunkroom where the lights were turned off and Kyo was lying on the bottom bed they shared with his eyes closed. Quietly, he slipped in and removed a glove so he could touch the metal arm with bare fingertips.

"Hey," Kyo said as he lay topless in just his red undershorts with his eyes still closed. The arm moved to take Shiro's naked hand carefully so that he could hold it. "How'd it go?"

Shiro took a seat with a sigh and Kyo sat up to make room. "You're fine. You don't have to say anything you don't want to talk about." Kyo nodded at that, his metal fingers idly playing with Shiro's.

"Not a lot I can talk about, right?" he laughed in sarcasm before giving Shiro a serious glance. "You could have told me sooner, you know?" The bright green eyes looked away then.

"That's true. If you would have known, then this would have happened. You'd still have your arm and…"

"I have an arm. A new one, thanks to you right?" the Sergeant smiled as his metal hand moved to tickle under Shiro's chin so that he'd look back. It worked, and they started at each other in silence before the bashful Sergeant tried to change the mood. "Well, I like it anyway. I think it's…," but his words were cut off by Shiro's sudden kiss. It startled Kyo to the point where his eyes widened and his body froze. Finally his hands came up to push Shiro away enough so that he could stand. His face was covered in a deep pink blush as his lips tingled uncontrollably. The Singer couldn't even speak at first. He only stood there with his flesh fingers touching his lips in shock. When he finally did say something, it wasn't exactly the reaction that Shiro was looking for.

"How could you?!" Shiro looked surprised by this and moved to stand. His arms instinctually reached out to Kyo, but were avoid as the Sergeant ducked out of the way. "Stop it!" he yelled angrily. Shiro stood still in surprise. "Why would you do that?! Do you really think that you owe me or something? I'm not blackmailing you! I said I wouldn't tell anyone and I won't! You don't have to pay me for my silence or anything…" Distressed, Kyo looked honestly hurt by the idea. Shiro, on the other hand, remained looking confused.

"…What? Blackmail…? Kyo, I never…" He stepped forward while trying to clarify his actions, but Kyo put his hand up.

"I said stop it, alright? You don't owe me anything. Just…Just leave okay? Go cool your jets and let me sleep…" With that, Kyo moved back to the bunk bed, but instead of going back to the bottom rack as usual, he instead climbed to the top and curled up on his side. Shiro watched and turned dejectedly to the door to leave the room. It was in the AI core where Shiro sat upon EDI's hardware alone to sulk.

"Let me guess, you kissed him and he rejected you?" EDI asked.

"You shouldn't spy on people, you know that?" Shiro teased sadly as he leaned back against the wall with a leg propped up. He was still missing one of his gloves.

"I didn't spy, it's written all over your face. I know it's hard to be in a relationship with a human. They do and say some rather unpredictable things." Shiro remained quiet as he was still considering what went wrong, so EDI continued to talk. "For example, when you try to initiate physical contact and it's taken as a form of bribery to keep a secret…"

"You were spying."

Maybe just a little," she giggled.

"When withholding information that may be of value, organics do seem to trade some sort of currency for either revealing or not disclosing said information," added Legion. "It seems that his reaction was the most likely outcome given the circumstance…but I do not need to tell you this."

"You suck the fun out of the room, Legion," EDI remarked in a tone where one could hear her eyes roll. "It was good timing to attempt intimacy. Romantic. Something you wouldn't know anything about."

"The results clearly show that it was not." Shiro had to laugh at the bickering AI's, but at least he had some clarity as to why Kyo reacted so poorly. It needed to be cleared up, but he would give the man some time to think it over before attempting again.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to take a shower."

"Your excessive cleaning habits should be repressed before the rest of the crew become suspicious of your true nature, Shiro," Legion warned before the ex-Agent took his leave. Shiro paused at this, giving a nod.

"True enough. Thank you." With that, he opened the door and exited to the medical bay. There, Dr. Chakwas sat and was surprised to see Shiro pop out.

"Were you in there this entire time? I didn't hear a thing," she asked, seemingly a bit startled.

"Yes, I was just looking at some of EDI's hardware. Sorry to bother you." The Doctor nodded, but looked confused.

"Were you speaking with EDI? I didn't hear her voice…"

"I…was just tweaking a bit, ma'am."

"It's alright, Karen. I gave him permission." Overhead, EDI's voice became audible. "Thank you for the software updates, Shiro." The white haired male nodded and took his leave back towards the bunks, but dipped into the shower room first. He usually stayed in there for a long time, but this one was rather short. He also decided to leave both his body and hair still quite damp as he put his robe on and returned to the bedroom. It was meant to give Kyo a reason to towel him off as usual. Maybe he had calmed down by now. There was a pleasant surprise waiting there at least, as Kyo had returned to the bottom bunk. He had genuinely fallen asleep this time, breathing softly on his back in the dark. Once again, Shiro stroked the metal arm. Kyo flinched at first, but didn't open his eyes until he felt Shiro's body straddle his waist.

"What in the?" the sleepy Sergeant muttered Shiro's wet hair dripped on his chest. His metal arm was taken and the hand was placed upon a cool, brown-skinned cheek. With his eyes now partially open, Kyo saw what was happening to him. Shiro as positioned himself upon the Singer's waist wearing nothing but an opened, damp, white robe with his long wet, white hair hanging down as the Biotic held onto the artificial limb. Apologetic green eyes looked down and caused Kyo's lips to press together in silence.

"I am sorry for this and everything else I've done to you," Shiro said in a hushed voice as he stroked the metal forearm.

"It's not so bad…," Kyo whispered back as he caressed the face that his hand was pressed against. "I can't feel anything with this damn thing except your skin, but I like it so…,"he smiled softly as he brushed a strand of wet hair behind Shiro's ear. "But you don't owe me anything for keeping that a secret. I made a promise and I don't plan on breaking it, so you don't have to…" A finger to his lips stopped Kyo from continuing that line of thought.

"If I wanted to keep you quiet, I'd kill you." The look in those green eyes was completely serious and humbled the man instantly. "So that's not why I kissed you."

"So why did you?"

Leaning forward, Shiro smiled deviously. Their noses touched and breathing increased as Shiro's hands had moved to touch Kyo's blushing face. "I wanted to." The distance closed as Shiro kissed him once again with a greater force and passion than before. It was enough to push the Sergeant down on his back.


	22. Kaidan and Shepard in the Hospital

The doors opened and in walked Commander Shepard. A sigh of relief was let go.

_He got my message. I guess he doesn't hate me after all._

"Hey Kaidan."

"Shepard, hey. You just missed snack time…actually, that's probably a good thing." _I'm such an idiot._ "Thanks for coming by."

"No problem."

The conversation continued.

_Why is he asking about the Spectre position? I can't get a reading on those eyes of his. Oh, yeah. That's a worried look._

Kaidan tried his best to put on a reassuring smile, but Shepard wasn't fooled at all by it.

"I got you this," the Commander said as he surprised the injured Major with a bottle of the only existing brand of medical booze on the market. Kaidan couldn't help but smile as he took the unexpected gift.

"Wow," Kaidan stammered as he read the label. "Thanks Shepard. That's…really great." _He got me a gift. A peace offering?_ Their eyes locked once again. "I'm so ready to get out of here, Shepard. You can't tell, but I'm tied to this bed by medical red tape." Shepard chuckled at this, his eyes scanning over Kaidan's body with devious glance.

"You doing okay?" he asked with concern, noticing how quick Kaidan was to lie back down after sitting up for only a short period of time. There was silence as the Major took a moment to think of an answer.

"My implant got a little…rattled." Shepard raised an eyebrow. "So, Doc wants me to keep the biotics offline for a bit." Kaidan soon caught onto Shepard's worried look again. "It's really no big deal." Shepard looked away as the Major wasn't fooling anyone. He sighed heavily as he relived the memories of Kaidan's head being smashed over and over again into the side of the shuttle in his mind.

"You almost died on my watch. It was…horrible to see."

_That sounded like honesty._

Kaidan's lips pressed together wondering if he should believe Shepard or not. "I want you to be straight with me then." The statement made Shepard lock eyes. Leaning forward, the Commander gave a nod to comply. "So, I want to make sure…after Mars, after Horizon…You and me, we're good?" Without looking away this time, Shepard gave a soft smile.

"We've been through hell together. That kind of bond…is hard to break."

_Avoidance._

"Not just that," Kaidan insisted as he sat up a bit more. "You were my Commander, sure. But you listened, too…" Shepard only shrugged at this. He listened to everybody. "We went through Ash's death together." The Commander's expression changed. His eyes narrowed a bit, but not out of anger. This look was different.

"Yeah…we did."

"So…," awkwardly stammered the Major. "What do you say? Are we…good?" He tried his best to imply something there, but it just wasn't getting across. The hazel eyes glazed over, but Shepard seemed either immune or an expert at dancing around the topic.

"We're good," Shepard answered, but his tone remained professional. "It was great to have you back on the Normandy."

_Dammit._

"Thanks," Kaidan answered flatly.

"Feel like we've cleared the air?"

_No. _

"Yeah." Still, there was something Kaidan wanted to say in all honesty. "You know, I'm not sure that I've been wrong about Cerberus…but I've been wrong about you." Shepard smiled at this and moved to stand by the window. It was a beautiful view. Peaceful. Fake.

"You've been injured. Sure you want right back in the thick of it?"

"Are you kidding?" Kaidan scoffed. "I want to kick the Reapers straight to hell. Cerberus, too." He turned to look out of the window where Shepard had opened the blinds a bit more. "I need to do something, Shepard…to save at least a few lives." Shepard nodded in agreement and returned to sit on the ledge of the bed. Kaidan moved over just a bit to make room. Looking down, the Commander smiled.

"Give me the update, _Major_." The tease in his voice had returned.

"Heh…Major, yeah."

"Congrats. There's obviously been a lot going on."

"Anderson asked me to take over a spec ops program. First Special Operations, Biotic Division. Turned it down at first, I mean teaching?" His fingers moved to brush against Shepard's. "I prefer to get my hands dirty." Shepard grinned at that and pretended not to notice Kaidan's approach.

"Anderson can be pretty persuasive."

"Yeah," Kaidan nodded as he removed his hand to place it back on his own chest. "A bit of a hard ass, but you can't argue with his kind of experience."

"Your implant got rattled? Everything good?" Kaidan shrugged.

"The medical gibberish was a bit more impressive, but that's what I took away. Rattled. Headaches are as bad as ever…" Shepard looked down to his fingers and regretted the fact that they longer being caressed. Pushing himself off the bed, he took a few steps away with his back turned to hide his concern. _He's as obvious as they come. _"But my biotics…are as strong as ever. Maybe some things get better with age." Shepard looked over his shoulder then with a smile.

"Or maybe you have."

"Are you flirting with me, Commander?" Kaidan teased, half-jokingly. "Wait, wait! Don't tell me. Let me live in the illusion." Shepard only rolled his eyes as he returned to his original seat.

"…Where's your family?"

"My family…?" Kaidan asked as he had to take a minute to collect his thoughts. "My parents live in Vancouver." He watched as Shepard's eyes widened from shock and narrowed with regret. "Dad's family owns an orchard in the BC interior. They were…headed out there on a shuttled the day of the attack." Shepard parted his lips to say something but pressed them closed once again instead. "Must be killing them not knowing where I am." Shepard nodded and moved to sit on the edge of the bed where Kaidan had made room. A hand reached out to touch Kaidan's chest, but stopped before they made contact. It clenched into a fist and was moved to Shepard's side as the Commander stared at the floor.

"Are we going to be able to get past what happened on Horizon?" Kaidan had been watching the hand, but saw Shepard's hesitation. He turned to look out the window as he thought about it.

_If not for the Reapers, would we have even ever spoken again?_

Giving a sigh, Kaidan pushed himself up to get a better look at Shepard's face. "I'd like to, Shepard," he said as he reached out to touch the red and white stripped sleeve of the N7 hoodie. "I'd like to move past the harsh words, and be…friends…," Kaidan paused as he traced down the red stripe to the cuff of the sleeve. His fingertips brushed the top of Shepard's bare hand as he pulled away. "At least." The Commander turned to look at him, who looked down until he was spoken to.

"So how do we fix it?" The brown eyes looked up and finally noticed how close their faces were. It caused Kaidan to fluster and move back just enough to get some breathing room. He also turned his head to avoid being so obvious.

"I'll admit, I own a lot of that," Kaidan spoke nervously. "You were standing right in front of me, and I was…" He looked up to lock eyes. "I shut you down. I'm sorry." Shepard looked as well before he pushed himself off the bed with a nod.

"Okay."

"Okay. So let's just put it behind us and get on with what's important right now." Rubbing his chin, Shepard gave another nod as he turned to face Kaidan.

"Bury it?" Kaidan nodded as well.

"Bury it. Forgive it. I…think that's how we get past Horizon." Shepard's eyes turned to the ground as he nodded again. He gave a look to Kaidan, who stared at the Commander in frustration, before eyeing the door.

"I should…probably get going." It hurt to hear, but the tension in the room was undeniable. It was too much for either one of them to bear right now.

"Thanks for coming by." Kaidan collapsed back down on the mattress with his eyes turned to the window as to not watch Shepard leave. Their feelings hung in the air, but remained unsaid.

"Take care, Kaidan."


	23. Intermission IV (NSFW)

Kyo had always been a bit reckless. Once his best friend and bandmate, David Rogers, started dating some fangirl named Maya, Kyo was given just enough rope to hang himself with. Nearly every stop during their concert tour had vids of him seducing some girl or another, dropping drugs in the backrooms of clubs, and even quite a few drunken bar fights. It was how he dealt with his confusion and sadness over losing to Maya. Admittedly, the only reason why Kyo even sang was because David wanted him to. David loved music more than life itself and Kyo wanted to be a part of that. Truth was that it felt good to be a part of something, especially after not being wanted most of his life.

Maybe it was a bit too cliché, but growing up as an orphan was a kick to the quad every single damn day that nobody needed, or even wanted, you. David was Kyo's salvation. He was another orphan in that who understood what it was like to be thrown away. However, once David had stopped needing him, Kyo had to get that feeling from somewhere else. From anyone else. He didn't care about who, why, and how.

But the Reapers came and took away even that.

David's death sobered Kyo up. It made him appreciate an emotional separation over what was now a physical tear. There was now something else to focus on and that was killing those sons of bitches. Surprisingly, he did rather well for some popstar singer with zero military training. There was a lot of rage in him that was easy to channel and after the Reapers, he really didn't have a reason anymore to return to the spotlight. Kyo had grown comfortable in the military. He was given an order and followed them. He still hadn't died yet, so he continued to wait for that moment when his story would end. Mars had given him the chance to finally go out the way he lived. When his oxygen valve severed, he thought that he could at least upload the data before taking in his final breath like the rest of his team, but something happened. He saw someone in trouble that needed him to stay alive for a bit longer.

Still, Illum gave him another chance to make up for how selfish his life had been. There was Maya, the woman who stole David away, and she didn't seem to give a damn that she was the reason why he had died. Kyo chased her, no. _He hunted her_, but his trigger finger had lost its grip after seeing how much rage had clouded his judgment yet again. David was alive. He had been living with Maya since the attack with their baby boy named Kyo, named after David's supposedly dead best friend. The reunion was bitter sweet, to say the least. Why Illum? Why had they become indented servants to this beautiful den of thieves? Apparently, staying alive during the Reaper attack had its price. In this case, that price came at being exploited by a few surviving Batarians.

To say Kyo was furious would be the understatement of the decade, but he remained surprisingly focused. It seemed as if the angrier he was, the harder he concentrated. It wasn't difficult to track down those who would do his friends wrong and faked a deal by offering to sell his assets in order to buy out David and Maya's contract. He was laughed at, teased, and eventually attacked as he thought he would be. It didn't matter that he was outnumbered and outgunned. When the missiles were armed, it would have been the death of him if not for Shiro. It seemed that Kyo had been wrong about no one else in the galaxy caring about him. He had someone who risked their life to save his, but it didn't feel right. Kyo knew that he didn't deserve it, so when he had a choice of making amends by denoting his shield in order to stop missile launch, he did so without hesitation. The overloaded omni-tool equipped with an abundance of concentrated energy for the Paladin's shield caused an explosion big enough to shake the city. Shiro managed to shield most of Kyo's body from the blast, but his arm had been completely destroyed. The Sergeant didn't have a lot of time left, so with what should have been his final words, he thanked Shiro for being alive. It was all worth it. Shiro whispered to Kyo while holding his battered and burnt body close, "It's not the end for you."

Kyo smiled up as Shiro had pinned him to the bed. It was a tight fit as they were on the bottom of a bunk bed, but Shiro seemed to be rather aware of just how much headroom he still had. There was very little light in the room, with the exception of Shiro's patterned implants that glowed slightly whenever he was active or in this case, excited. Kyo wasn't sure if that was just something he did or if all Biotics acted like lightning bugs. Kyo took notice that the white hair was especially susceptible to the green illumination and he used his mechanical hand to brush a few strands out of Shiro's face away to get in a better kiss.

While he was trying to be sweet about it, Shiro was a bit more forceful as he kept Kyo pinned to the mattress while wiggling off his robe. It was dropped off to the side of the bed where it made a pleasant thud on the ground. The noise made them both stop to look over the edge. Shiro reached over to grab it and proceeded to dig through one of the pockets in search of something. It was a bit too dark to see, but Kyo noticed that the man on top of him was soon holding a small container. "The hell is that?" he laughed as Shiro held it up proudly. It took some squinting to read the front of the bottle. "Magic Touch: Special Aquatic Edition. _A perfect combination of Drell heat with Hanar sensations_…?" Kyo stopped to stare at Shiro, raising an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?" Shiro shrugged playfully.

"Cortez recommended this. Says it works wonders in rough spots."

"Oh," Kyo grinned as he reached to take the bottle from Shiro while stealing a kiss. Shiro smirked as well, even more so as he was flipped over onto his back with Kyo now on top of him. He received gentle kisses to his forehead, checks, and down his neck as the Sergeant's metal hand traced down his naked sides. Every time those fingers ran over one of his implants, he shivered uncontrollably with a moan. Before Kyo had even reached past the thin waist line, Shiro was an erect, panting mess that was gripping onto the sheets and thin black blanket. His legs bent at the knee and spread as an invitation to keep going.

Kyo was aroused as well, his boxers becoming nearly unbearable for him to keep on much longer. He knew what to do. He knew what Shiro wanted him to do, but a part of him hesitated. There was a pause as he stared down at his friend. A look of concern gave Kyo away enough for Shiro to sit up from his position. Taking the bottle away, Shiro opened it himself as he kissed along Kyo's neck and nuzzled against it as he tugged down the man's boxers to free the strained sex down there. Kyo closed his eyes as he was taken charge of, biting his lip in a hiss as he felt Shiro's slicked over fingers grip and stroke his manhood. The implant on the inside of Shiro's palm added an extra sensation as it passed over the swollen mushroom tip multiple times. Brushing the short black hair with his freehand, Shiro managed to coax the Singer back into kissing. Kyo took hold of both sides of Shiro's face as he finally gave into his own urges.

He pinned Shiro back down on the bed, grinding desperately against the other man's groin until Shiro managed to direct it to his opening. The lube did its trick, allowing for Kyo to push inside with little effort as he bit into the brown skin of Shiro's neck to muffle his grunting. Shiro dug his nails into Kyo's toned back, leaving marks embedded into the pale skin. He also didn't bother to silence himself at all. Every thrust was slippery and demanding, filling the Biotic deeply when inserted and let him feeling empty it was pulled out. He could feel Kyo's heart beating loudly as their chests were pressed together and missed the warmth as Kyo pulled away to get a better angle. Sitting more upright, Kyo reached down with his metallic hand to stroke Shiro's bouncing erection, making sure to rub the small implant at the tip with his thumb. Shiro's had to grip the bed sheets again to keep from squirming right off the mattress every time he got that sudden jolt of sensation there. His hole tightened up every single damn time just on reflex. Even this implant flickered with light whenever Shiro shuddered and cried out loud like that. It was also a great indication that Shiro was close to his climax. Leaning over on his natural arm, Kyo continued to lick and tease the implants around Shiro's collarbone and chest. His pounding quickened and shook the bed consistently as his other hand teased and jerked the Biotic off underneath him. Shiro had grabbed the headboard to brace himself as he suddenly lit up in a bright neon green that erupted in tangent with his orgasm. Multiple clear spurts came from his held tip that splattered over his chest, chin, cheek, and corners of his mouth on the side of his face. Kyo pulled away, but still held the throbbing dick down against Shiro's panting stomach.

Licking the corner of his mouth, Shiro looked toward Kyo in a sexual haze. "Cheater," he teased. Kyo only shrugged and rolled Shiro onto his stomach.

"Maybe," Kyo said as he remounted the Biotic from behind, this time getting a tight grip on the unkempt long white hair. Shiro's small laugh was interrupted by his own grunts as he was entered once again. Being taken like this from the back after a satisfying orgasm was extremely pleasant. His sex was still sensitive and throbbing from pleasure that echoed inside of his body still as Kyo continued to caresses the glowing cybernetics on his spine and hips with both hands. It didn't take long for the thrusting to become erratic and for Kyo to remove himself as he released his hot juices against the twitching hole he came out of. Shiro collapsed onto his stomach as Kyo fell to his side on the small bed, both of them sweating and panting with smiles on their faces. Shiro rolled over to stroke Kyo's sweaty bangs away from the Singer's face but was grabbed and kissed before he could finish.

"Thank you," Kyo said with his eyes closed as he nuzzled against his new lover.

"Thank…you?" Shiro asked, sounding confused. "That's not something you say afterwards."

"No, I mean…thank you…for saving me." Shiro smiled at this and kissed the moist forehead in front of him.

"You saved me, remember?" Kyo shrugged, but was quickly drifting off. He snuggled a bit more closely with a protective hold around Shiro's body. It was a matter of seconds before he fell asleep entirely. Shiro felt comfortable in Kyo's warms arms and continued to pet the short hair as if he were petting a sleeping kitten. Kyo even murmured and wiggled like one in his deep sleep, despite his boxers still being halfway down his rear and ass exposed out in the open air. Eventually, Shiro started to drift as well but was jolted back to reality by something in the dark. This was no time to be dreaming about electric sheep.


End file.
